


Agreement

by AgreementTale



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Blood and Injury, Family Bonding, Flashbacks, Flowey gets stressed easily, Gen, Memory Loss, No More Resets (Undertale), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Papyrus have no screentime yet, Sans is just watching shit hit the fan, The human thinks he gets funny like that, The royal guards actually kills them a lot, Toriel is convincing herself they both gonna be ok, Underfell Alphys (Undertale), Underfell Asgore Dreemurr, Underfell Flowey (Undertale), Underfell Mettaton (Undertale), Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), Underfell Toriel (Undertale), Underfell Undyne (Undertale), Undertale Spoilers, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2020-10-20 21:50:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 48,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20682494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgreementTale/pseuds/AgreementTale
Summary: Again…They couldn’t believe it, years of progress wasted, a promise broken, how could they face everyone after what they had done?But with a blurred memory and a familiar, yet somewhat strange, turn of events, maybe things are not what they expected.





	1. Falling

**Author's Note:**

> In celebration of the fourth anniversary of Undertale (by Toby Fox) and as a contribution to this undying fandom, here is the universe that is helping me survive through my masters degree.

They felt the sun shining on their eyes, their body was numb like they had taken a long nap in a hot afternoon. They half consciously brought their hand to their face, the movement made a familiar flowery smell crawl into their nostrils, while they struggled to hide from the descending light.

Moaning because of the discomfort and half-awake they slightly opened their eyes, only to face old stone pillars and a long long fall from the surface. All the sleepiness vanished as they shoot their eyes open. They were in a bed of flowers.

Nope.

They closed them as tightly as they could.

Nope nope nope.

This was a nightmare, just a dream, they would wake up at any moment.

It was just a memory from many many reloads ago, it could not harm them, they would not let it harm them, they would not despair, all they had to do was close their eyes and wait until they woke up.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Just like that, deep and long breaths.

They would wake up in their own bed, not on yellow flowers. They were on the surface, not underground.

Not again.

Never again.

Their body was hurting from the excessive training, not from any fall. Every day after training they felt like this, she would always push them to their limits. It was normal, it was okay, nothing to be worried about...

Except…

Who?

She who?

No name, no face, not a single memory…

Well just one more reason to believe they’re dreaming. Maybe they were in one of those dreams that you wake up and are still dreaming, they just had to wait until they woke up for real.

Breathe in, breathe out.

They had had worse nightmares, this one wasn’t even that scary, they would wake up eventually, and if they didn’t, she would knock on the door and ask if they were hungry, she could always sense when one of her children were in distress.

She… 

Who? 

She!

Not the same one?

No. 

Right.

Breathe in, breathe out.

They were not scared. Nope. Not scared at all!

Just because they couldn’t remember anyone while dreaming didn’t mean they weren’t all safe and happy.

Breathe in, breathe out.

They would wake up at any moment.

Breathe in, breathe out.

They had to stay determined.

Breathe in, breathe out.

They would wake up, they just had t–/

“Are you just going to lay there?”

Their brother’s voice, a wave of relief washed over them as they felt the light pressure of a check.

“If you keep playing dead you will die really quick here”

They couldn’t understand his words, but his voice was strained something was not alright, they struggled with sleep paralysis.

“Come on I know you can hear me, wake up already” they felt a poke on their cheek.

“Azzy?” They murmured while their hand fell to the side of their head, opening their eyes, they saw a yellow flower looming over them, his eyes wide in shock.

“What… did you call me?” The flower asked, trembling on his roots. Somehow this was not what they were expecting to see.

“Where am I?” No, it couldn’t be. This was...this was where they fell underground “What’s happening?” This couldn’t be happening. They didn’t reset. They absolutely could **not** have reset! “Who?” Who did it? Who reset? Why did they reset?

“So… now you’re freaking out? That’s how you want to do this?” He appeared to shake his distress and didn’t appeared to be surprised any longer, but he kept his distance and a confused face while they sat down to face him.

“Why” they were hyperventilating, as much as they tried couldn’t even form a proper sentence “aren’t” Breathe in breathe out, they couldn’t despair now “you?”

“I’ve seen your kind before, I take it you never saw a talking flower” what was he talking about?

Their confused stare seemed to be enough to prompt him to talk.

“Howdy! My name is Flowey, Flowey the flower, and if you want to stay alive you better start calling me your best friend”

“Flowey” yes Flowey, they remembered Flowey. He killed them several times, reloading again and again, to see them suffer… “my...” he was their brother’s soulless form… their kind and selfless brother “best friend”

Another check “How hard did you hit your head on the fall? You have all your HP but you are talking funny... or are you just that stupid?”

They laughed, a weight was lifted from their chest at those words, he didn’t have the biting tone they were expecting, for some reason he sounded worried “Sometimes… mostly when I wake up or when I’m really nervous. I guess this time was a little bit of the two” they smiled to him “is a pleasure to meet you Flowey”

They extended their right hand for him to shake, he lifted a fine vine to shake it back, they didn’t flinch, a memory of those vines strangling them was quickly dismissed, and they smiled at him warmly.

“And you are a human, right?” So he didn’t remember them, he didn’t remember the resets, they had to play along. They nodded.

“And where are we, Flowey?” Asked trying their best to stand on their own without damaging the flowers, they were important for him, they remember that… the reason, though, escaped their memory.

“We are on the Ruins of the underground. It’s the wrong place for humans, you shouldn’t have come here, but since you were stupid enough to fall down, you have to follow me or they will kill you and take your soul” he disappeared on the ground, reappearing a few meters ahead “Are you deaf too? Follow me!”

On wobbly legs they followed him, something was different, something was wrong, they couldn’t put their finger on it, but they were under the impression he would be more… murdery? “Who is going to kill me?”

“The Monsters, it’s kill or be killed here” yes, this was familiar, they remembered him saying that much.

He led them to a hole on the wall, hidden by plants, they stared at the unsuspicious hole behind the plant covered wall, and then to the path that led to the entrance to the Ruins, then back again to the place they fell.

“Aren’t you a monster?” They asked.

“Yes” hesitation on his voice, or was it plain confusion?

“Then why aren’t **you** trying to kill me?” It was a fair question, on all the other resets he would shoot his… what was the name? the attack… Oh! Friendly pellets! He would shoot his ‘friendly pellets’ at them, right there. He never offered to guide them. It was someone else who did that… someone soft and safe.

“Do you want to die?” he deadpanned, an annoyed look on his face.

Probably “No”

“Then stop asking questions and start listening to me!” he demanded, signing to the wall “Now get in the hole before it starts raining fire over here” he then vanished on the tunnel.

They took another look at the room, there were marks on the walls, like fire scorch marks, looking closely, all the ground was black like coal, the only apparently safe spot was the bed of flowers.

Well, what did they have to lose? Worst thing that could happen would be him leading them into a trap and torturing them for a few hours before they died. He doesn’t remember them, so he probably doesn’t know yet that he can no longer reset and save.

And if he **do** decide to torture them, don’t they deserve it at this point? Years and years of living on the surface erased like it never happened…

“Are you coming or not?” his face reappeared on the tunnel’s entrance.

“Am I dreaming?” It could be, it had to be! They could not have made this mistake, not again, never again.

“Of course not, you idiot!” He gave them no time to be disappointed, as noise coming from the entrance of the Ruins startled him “Come on quick! She’ll find you” whispered, a vine grabbing their arm.

Another memory.

They flinched.

Vines and thorns, a terrible electronic laugh, a big TV, big eyes, too many teeth, too many vines.

“Hurry” he pleaded, scared eyes looking back at them.

This was their brother “I’m coming” after what they did to him they deserved anything he could throw at them.

Both disappeared in the tunnel.


	2. Into the

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writting it helped me.  
3,478 words down, 49,445 words to go.

They woke up on an unfamiliar bed, there were dark clouds outside the window.

No, not clouds… a cave ceiling…

They didn’t know where they were, in an unconscious act they touched their arms and forearms.

Nothing.

They were up in a heartbeat.

No, no, no, no, no… not again, they didn’t do it.

They looked at their arms, a blue and pink stripped shirt, with trembling hands they pulled the sleeves revealing untouched skin.

No scars, no marks, no magic.

Did they reset? Why? Why again? It was all their fault. Why–/

“Could you yell any louder?”

Flowey stood before them, they were hyperventilating again, confused they touched their arms, why there would be scars?

Why not finding them was unsettling?

“Sorry” muttered with a raspy voice. Two days ago they had fallen underground, two days ago they followed Flowey to one of the houses on the Ruins.

“Why do you have to scream every time you wake up? Stupid human” He sounded like he wanted this to be a whisper, but still made it loud enough for them to be self-conscious “Eat this before you die of hunger” three candies were dropped on the mattress.

Their stomach hurt, it was the third day without food, they were growing hungry and weak.

They deserved it.

“Thank you” said, pushing the sweets to below the pillow, what difference it would make? They had reset. Years of progress thrown away because of them… and they couldn’t even remember why.

“Eat it or I’ll shove it down your stomach” he threatened “Do you know how hard it was to steal you these?” His grimace was funny.

“How hard?” they indulged.

“Very!” but not as funny as his angry face “Now eat it!”

“I’m not really hungry–/”

“Bullshit” he rose to look them in the eyes, it was easy with them sitting on the bed “I know all about you ~humans~” his face morphed to a humanoid form on the last word, ok that was creepy… “You have to eat a lot more than that or you get sick”

“I’m already sick” they replied mindlessly, they were a sick person for what they did.

“Boo hoo, I’m a sad sad human” he mocked “I disappointed people and fell into a cave hole” shaking his head, his petals were a bit nicked at the edges “I make myself sick because I don’t want to EAT!” He jumped on them, vines spawning from everywhere.

They flinched, hard, he used this moment to hold their mouth open.

And they panicked.

Reflexively they trashed on the vines that only were getting tighter and tighter, trying to scratch whatever was holding them down. They saw vines and a wicked laugh and giant green-red eyes, reloading again and again and again.

Thump!

-14

They gasped, opening their eyes. They were upside down, half on the ground, legs still on the bed, but no vines around them, instead Flowey was staring at them with a bruising in his cheek.

They had hit him! “Flowey!” they crawled over their brother “Are you ok? Did I hurt you?” He slapped their hands away with his vines.

“I’m fine” hissed “What is wrong with you humans? I save you and that’s how you repay me?”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” They rushed to the bed, unwrapped a candy and offered it to him “Here, please heal yourself”

“I picked this for you, you idiot, are you really trying to apologize by giving it back?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to hit you, I just want to heal you, I didn’t–/” he lifted a vine to silence them.

“Is this pathetic speech your way to try to apologize?” They nodded “I have a better idea”

“Anything” they offered.

“Eat it” the vine pointed to the candy in their hands.

They blinked, well, that wouldn’t be all that bad. They ate the candy, feeling the magic rush on their hungry body. It made them remember how much food they were missing, if anything made them hungrier.

“Aaaand the other ones” Flowey looked attentively to them.

They ate the second with pleasure, the non-licorice flavor welcomed, but held the third to Flowey “You have to eat too”

“I don’t **have** to eat, I’m a flower”

“But I hurt you” they insisted, extending the candy in his direction “You said it was dangerous out there” he was within arm’s reach, but they tried not to touch him right now.

“You think your weak punch can kill me? Please” rolled his eyes, holding a leaf to his bruised cheek, pretending not to flinch at the stinging contact “It’s you I’m worried about” said amused.

“Well, and I’m worried about **you**” they said honestly, offering the last candy “Isn’t that what friends are for?”

He chuckle lightly “You are an idiot” his leaves glowed with green light, he touched the bruise and the green expanded to all the side of his face “And as your new best friend I will help you survive” and it faded away, no light, no bruise, like nothing had happened, they were impressed “But as an apology you will have to do anything I say, now eat it!”

“For the rest of the day?” Asked popping the last candy on their mouth.

“For the rest of your life!” He proclaimed proudly, they laughed trying not to choke on the candy. He hadn’t changed.

“With my luck, those might be around the same time”

“Not today!” he yelled “Today you are getting out of bed, humans have to exercise, they get sick if they are in bed all day” pointing an accusatory vine at them.

“I’m pretty sure I’m on the _flor_ now” they retorted, waiting for him to roll his eyes.

“Doesn’t count” he said simply.

“Hm” they cleaned their throats “_flor_?” he still didn’t react “As in flower?” he looked at them in annoyed confusion “You know… in about four languages?”

“Why would anyone need four languages with the same words?” he asked, seeming actually curious.

“Because… the world is a big place?” they tried to explain the best they could “Humans got several languages… and dialects?” the confusion on UN meetings echoed in their minds, their brother’s amused voice saying ‘flower’ in twenty different languages, winning a meaningless bet.

He rolled his eyes “Well I couldn’t know that” looking at them displeased “I never left underground”

Their face dropped “I’m sorry” soul aching in their chest.

“Meh, whatever” he said “It’s not like you sealed us down”

They let his unintentional accusation sink in…

They deserved that…

They really deserved that…

“Hey! Are you listening?”

“Sorry, I got distracted there”

“With what? The cobwebs?”

They gave him an apologetic smile “Sure” and got up, they were going out after all.

“So what is it?” Flowey lead the way to what looked like a small street, there were several houses on the Ruins, they had no memories of this place, but that wasn’t all new… maybe they did bump their head on the fall.

They caught Flowey looking at them expectantly “Hm?”

“Your name! Stupid! How were you not listening?”

“Oh… my name…” what was it again?

“Yes, your name! Want me to keep calling you human all the time?”

“Actually, that would be perfect” it would spare them the trouble of remembering it.

“Why?” he looked at them smiling tauntingly “Do you get a stupid name too?” he teased.

“Oh, Flowey” they cooed “Your name is not stupid!” the flower contorted his face in horror.

“That’s not – ARG!” he hissed “I don’t care about the stupid name of a stupid human” he went faster to what looked like a bifurcation on the way, and then to what looked like a secret passage behind a stone pillar.

On the other side there was a room filled with red leaves and a wide stone staircase, no, two staircases that connected themselves to an entrance, to what seemed to be a… castle?

Wait.

They remembered this place! They rushed to the middle of the leaves and looked to the entrance in front of them, as if this had trigged a reaction, something important appeared, a golden light, as if drawn to it, they extended their hands.

Their soul greeted the familiar light that emanated the powerful energy. They could feel it. It was bigger than them, bigger than the underground, bigger than reality itself.

* The shadow of the Ruins looms above, filling you with determination.

For some reason the text seemed more ominous than before, but they gladly accepted it.

Flowey was staring at them with surprise written all over his face, but when they turned to face him, he pretended to be busy climbing… or better… reappearing on the top of the stairs.

“I think I have amnesia or something” they blurted after he avoided speaking with them for almost half an hour of puzzles, walking into rocks and then just walking silently “It’s when people can’t remember things” he was still avoiding them for some reason “I don’t remember things before the fall very well” Names, places, their family and friends “They are all blurry”

“So you don’t remember your name?” the flower asked, stopping on the path, the first stop in two hours.

They shook their heads in a negative “Not clearly” glad for the chance to catch their breath.

“Don’t you remember anything?”

“Not really” they had foggy memories about their brother, but their brother was right in front of them… certainly remembering a thing you just saw wouldn’t count.

“Try”

“Hm?”

“Try remembering, see what happens” well… ok, it was worth a shot.

They closed their eyes, what did they remember? The first thought they had when they fell underground… Panic, but why? Why they were panicking? Because the lost time? Was there really something as ‘lost time’ when time didn’t have a meaning?

If a reset could bright back time… no wait… **reset**… the word itself didn’t feel good, was it because of the reset?

‘No more resets’

Where did they heard that?

A voice ‘No more resets’ accusingly played in their head again and again.

They stepped on a tiled floor, their steps echoed.

The smell of ozone.

Their own voice resonated on their head, vowing in a yellow lighted corridor.

‘I promise. I will bring everyone back to surface. Then, no more resets’

‘so i promise. i’ll be there, every step of the way’

The baritone voice answered and they felt themselves smiling to an old friend.

“Sans...” He will know what to do.

“What?” Called Flowey from a few meters away, apparently tired of waiting.

“Nothing” Saying too much could bring this run to a short end, they had a goal. And now that they knew what their goal was they would do anything to accomplish it, they were determined “Actually I remembered something”

The flower looked at them expectantly.

“My name” they said reluctantly, it was trapped in their throat.

“Which **is**?” If he had teeth now he would be grinding them.

“Frisk” The name tasted wrong in their mouth, half of them felt like a liar, the other half like a coward, but given the fact that they had thrown an entire race into a time prison... again... the bitterness was welcomed. As long as it didn’t keep them from going forward.

“Hm…” murmured “That’s… a nice name” he still looked at them from up and down “It’s that all you remember?”

They thought for a moment, how to bring this up, without talking about the resets?

Flowey acted like they never met before, it could be an act, or not. But they would play along, and play safe.

“No. I remember something else” They would not bring anything too heavy, but the message had to be clear.

“Spit it out already! Why all the dramatic pauses?”

“I remembered why I am here” they smiled at the impatient flower “I am here to free all the monsters”

His petals deflated and face seemed to pale.

“Aren’t you happy?”

“Hm…” he seemed deep in thought “Frisk… did you humans kept counting? Or something” he was clearly bothered by something.

“No. Humans don’t even know you exist, there is just the legend about MT Ebott” now he looked confused “But I know a way to get a happy ending were no monster gets hurt!” they explained trying to contain the sudden rush of happiness that went along with finding their life’s purpose “I just have to befriend them and get to the barrier, then you will all go free!”

He looked at them for a few seconds.

Then burst into laughter.

It wasn’t his unpleasant laughter, though.

“Well” he tried to control his wheezing breath “You want to” another cough-laugh “~befriend~ monsters”

“Yep” that threw him into another fit. That they patiently waited to die down.

“Ok, ok” he breathed, still amused “I know how to get you there” and motioned for them to follow “Just trust your best friend”.

As strange as it was, they did.


	3. Underground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writting it helped me.  
5678 down, 47635 to go.

Walking a little bit more they entered into a room with a long corridor, upfront they saw a puzzle rather intimidating, with big metal spikes coming from the ground floor.

Flowey led them to the puzzle, but stopped right before it, looking lost in thought.

“See that guy over there?” They turned back, seeing a Froggit right on the path were they came from “try to befriend him” they purposefully ignored the wicked smile on his face, more puzzled by the fact they didn’t saw this particular monster approaching.

*Froggit hopped close

With a push their soul was called to an encounter, it was familiar enough. They could see their own soul ready to battle, emanating magic through their body, and were sure that Froggit could see part of it seeping into the battle field, just not enough to figure out the shape of their soul, no, that would be too much to ask from a common monster. They would use that on their favor.

“Hello fellow monster” they waved, catching the attention of the attacking monster “looking good today”

He jumped on them, head-butting them to the ground, they didn’t expected that, a quick look at their soul showed their HP 15/20.

“Maybe he didn’t like the compliment” screamed Flowey from a safe distance and slightly behind a convenient rock.

“It’s ok, I’m ok!” they reassured him, even if he didn’t looked concerned.

“Check him” he yelled again “see how strong he is”.

They acted, checking the monster.

*Life is difficult for this enemy. ATK 4, DEF 5.

Before they could get used to it, little magic flies were drawn over to them, they did their best job to dodge, but two got to touch them, it stung like a bee sting. But took just 2 damage from each fly.

“Hey, he has attack four, he is way stronger than you” he was weirdly helpful “you see your HP? If it gets to zero you die, so you have to hit him real fast, ok?”

They didn’t want to hit him, so they complimented him instead.

*He didn’t understand what you said, so naturally thought you were mocking him.

“What are you doing?” Flowey said confused “hit him”

Dodging the jumping frog was easy when they already knew what they were looking for “I don’t want to hit him”

“He is hitting you!” They complimented him again without success “Just hit him back”

“I’m not hitting him back” another fly caught them, HP 9/20, well they had to train their dodging skills.

“If your HP gets to zero, you will die! You get that?”

“Yes, I’ll solve this without violence” another compliment.

“Without violence? Are you dumb? He is trying to KILL YOU!”

The Froggit stopped, they watched attentive as he hopped close and acted instead of fighting.

Froggit croaked flirtatiously.

They laughed acting too, a wink and finger guns, “See Flowey? He isn’t bad” well it looked like they just needed to–/

They were thrown into the ground by a headbutt, HP dropping unexpectedly.

“But… why?” they managed to ask, before their chest bloomed with a consuming pain.

Falling to the ground the last thing they saw was Froggit croaking triumphantly, proud of outsmart his enemy… did he really flirt with them to make them drop their guard? Was that why the hit had caused that much damage?
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  4569:24                              Timeline 1 end.

Did they…

Did they just die… to a Froggit…

That must be the stupidest death ever… outsmarted by a Froggit… a fucking Froggit…

Yep, thaaat got them angry.

Back at the entrance of the ruins, they looked at Flowey, that again stared at them with surprise written all over his face, when they turned to face him, he looked at them expectantly, but when they just held his gaze saying nothing, he pretended to be busy reappearing on the top of the stairs.

“I’m starting to think I bumped my head on the fall”

“Because you have amnesia?” they nodded, they went to the ruins without much trouble.

“Frisk?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t you have any questions?” many more than what he could answer… so they just shrugged instead.

“So, why are you here?”

“Oh, I am here to free all the monsters” they repeated “I told you before…” did that happened before or after the saving point? “Didn’t I?” if they knew they would die so soon they would be more careful with the dialogues, but again, he was supposed to remember anyway “You told me to follow you?” Or that he would guide them? Gee, they really needed to start paying attention to their surroundings “So I’m following you”

Flowey looked at them analytically “This way” he said going faster than before.

Walking by the same path they paid more attention to their surroundings, this time they saw him, just before getting to the spike puzzle, a Froggit hidden on the corner of the walls, as they walked to the puzzle, the Froggit hopped to the middle of the path.

Once again they were trapped between a puzzle and a monster, only this time they saw it coming.

“Oh no!” Flowey gasped, as if he was surprised … weird… “Don’t let that monster hit you! He will kill you!” If they didn’t know him, they might had actually believed him.

*Froggit hopped close

Their soul was called to an encounter, by having them killed in a dirty trick, this Froggit proved himself deserving of no sympathy. And yet…

“Hello fellow monster” they waved with a smile “Looking strong aren’t we?”

This time they expected the headbutt.

“What are you doing? He is dangerous!” screamed Flowey.

“It’s ok, I’m ok!” they reassured him.

“No, you’re not!” he yelled again “He is stronger than you, you have **one** chance to survive this! You have to hit him first!”

They acted again “So, do you come here often? Maybe you could show me the place around”

Little magic flies were drawn over to them, still couldn’t dodge 2 of them, HP 16/20.

“Stop flirting with him! He can’t understand you”

“I’m not flirting, those are innocent compliments” said, acting again.

“Why are you complimenting someone that is trying to kill you? Hit him!”

“I don’t want to hit him” Dodging the jumping frog they evaluated Flowey, it was rare see him so passionate about something.

“He is hitting you!” They complimented him again without success “He is gonna KILL YOU!”

“I’m not hitting him back, I still have–/” they tripped on their feet, a few flies hit them before they could get back up, gladly their HP was still 8/20.

“He is killing you, he is killing you right now”

“I’ll solve this without violence, Flowey, just chill!” another compliment fell in deaf ears… that he didn’t have.

“Stupid human” he murmured.

The Froggit stopped, they watched closely while he hopped striking a pose and flirting, they flirted back, staying attentive to the frog.

When he jumped they were ready to dodge, but tripped again being caught by the headbutt.… maybe not in their feet this time… starting to think about it, maybe they hadn’t tripped on their feet the last time either…

Their HP was 1, they were expecting the attack so their defenses were up, and they were pretty sure that a vine had grabbed their feet.

“This was a very good jump, I can tell you don’t skip leg day” they winked at him for effect, as they got back up.

“Don’t let your guard down idiot, if he hit you with your guard down you will die” Yeah… maybe if he didn’t mess around with his vines, they wouldn’t trip….

“I don’t want to kill you” dodged all the flies “No, **won’t** kill you, or anyone” 

“**It’s kill or be killed**” he seemed angry, for real this time “You are just going to let him kill you? Fight!”

They struggled with the decision, but were determined not to, reaching out instead “I know you don’t understand me Froggit, but I just want to be friends” they extended their arms, Froggit prepared the headbutt, but before it hit Flowey’s vines grabbed him.

“I can’t hold him for long” Froggit was scared, Flowey had a vine tight on his leg “you have to kill him now or he is going to kill us” they looked at him in disbelief, did he said ‘us’?

“I won’t kill” they said firmly.

“He is going to kill you if you don’t” the frog thrashed in his grip.

“**I won’t kill**” their soul pulsed in their chest, they were filled with determination, Flowey looked at them confused enough to let go of the Froggit, that ran away at the first opportunity “See? He just ran, he didn’t really wanted to kill anyone” they said as a matter of fact.

“I don’t understand” he didn’t moved from his spot, staring at them with wide eyes.

“What?”

“Why didn’t you hit him?” he spoke softly “He attacked, he ki – almost… killed you”

“I won’t hurt anyone”

“You had no problem punching **me** when **I** attacked you”

“Sorry, that… that was an accident” His unexpected honesty was giving them quite the guilt trip “I just… thought you were someone else…” not exactly “I didn’t really knew that I hit you until I saw the numbers going up”

He huffed breaking eye contact “Whatever… but if you want to get out of here alive, you have to kill a few monsters… a LV1 like you is an easy target”

“I will break the barrier without hurting any monster”

“Ha!” he turned to face them with renewed vigor “And I will guide you and lead the way” he bounced innocently from side to side “~And we will live happy ever after in a house full of pies and rainbows, smiles and teeny tiny teacups, because why not~?” spit with the most sing song sugar coated venom dripping voice he could muster.

“Thank you” the idea sounded nice, though.

“That was sarcasm” he deadpanned.

“Nope, it was a deal” they blatantly denied.

“One that you can’t possibly keep” said rolling his eyes.

“If I keep my part on the bargain, will you keep yours?” By the way he looked at them, he wasn’t expecting this “I promise to break the barrier and that no monster will get hurt, you promise to point me the right way” they extended their hand to him, he just eyed them curious “do we have an agreement?” they met his look with all the confidence they could muster.

He shyly extended a leaf “It will be interesting to see you try” they shook hands.

Huffing and adjusting their clothes, they smiled, looking ahead to the puzzle.

“Ok, now we just need to figure out how to solve this” There was water on the sides, if nothing worked they could swim, but it had to be an easier answer.

They focused on the spikes, it brought a fain memory, they remembered the room, but they never really needed to do the puzzle… why again?

There was… there was a soft hand guiding them… then it was up… and down… and up again… yes, that was the right combination…

But how many steps again? The last thing they needed was to be impaled by those things…

They were long and sharp, would easily break the skin and pierce muscles, the worst part was that they would get thicker and thicker… if the tip pierced through the ball of their foot it would certainly rip the whole thing open when it got to the base, breaking bones, tearing muscles, practically blowing their foot up.

And, oh boy, they didn’t want to imagine it piercing their heel, splitting their leg like a bamboo. And it wouldn’t be enough for killing them right away, so they would have to suffer the whole time it would take for them to bleed out…

Their thoughts were interrupted by Flowey cleaning his throat.

“The answer is written right over there, on the ground” they looked at him like he was saying the most ridiculous thing in the world, he just pointed to the first part of the corridor.

“No...”

“What?”

“Noooooo”

“No what?!”

“It can't just be marked on the floor!” It couldn’t be that easy! They particularly remember that this puzzle had no written solution, that is why it was dangerous… that’s why they never did it!

“Is right there, you just walked over it”

They strode to the path, and there, right on the ground, a clear discoloration on the field. Purposefully marking the path to be taken “How did I never noticed that!?”

“Because it's the first time you do this puzzle?”

“But!” was there the whole time? How many times did they failed to notice that?! How many times did they walked this same room and never saw it?

“Just do it already”

They counted the steps, and precisely replicated on the other room, then… crossed it…

That easy…

They didn’t need to guess where to step on, the answer was right there…

Written on the floor… 

They didn’t need her hand guiding them…

Their whole life was a lie.


	4. A Warm Welcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writting it helped me.  
7,308 down 47,659 to go.

They walked resigned, spoiled mood, feeling dumb for not noticing something that was so obvious now that they thought about it, it was a puzzle, of course it would have a solution…

The initial smugness of their brother behind them did not help… on the last few minutes, however, he seemed to be unease, eyeing every corner, and particularly a single pillar on the left of the ruins, suspiciously, once they approached they saw nothing behind.

“Ok, what is the problem?” it was starting to bother them.

“Just making sure you don’t die on me” led the way with caution, but kept a quick pace. 

Still following the deal then “Ok” but a little on edge didn’t sit right with them.

They saw a big pile of leaves on the next room, the biggest pile of red, crunchy leaves so far, it piled up high, it should safely hit the chest mark. There was only one rational thing to do.

They walked to the pile of leaves, turned around, to look at Flowey, opened their arms, winked and threw themselves backwards at the big pile with several satisfying crunches.

“What are you doing?!” The look on his face, confusion mixed with concern for their sanity was hilarious.

“Nice weather for swimming, don’t you think?” they simulated the movement with their arms, the leaves crunched and lightly poked through the fabric of their sleeves, he kept yelling something about the leaves crunching being too loud and attracting unwanted attention, instead of replying that his shouting had already blew any attempt of stealth, they just covered themselves with more leaves and pretended to be hidden in between giggles.

* Hearing your brother berate at you for playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination.

The golden light shone over their soul, HP going back to 20, then his vines dragged a laughing human out of their hiding place, his mood a lot brighter too.

Until they found a room with a bowl of candies “So…” they said smugly while he adverted his eyes like a guilty dog “How hard was finding that food again?” asked inspecting the bowl.

* It says ‘take one.’

* You took a piece of candy.

“Don’t get sassy on me!” he snapped while they ate the candy, having the bruises from the battle healed “Do you know how hard is to carry those? I can’t go below the ground holding them! I have to go above ground all the way!” Flowey trying to hold the bowl of candy was a funny image, it must suck not having proper hands “That’s dangerous, no one can walk around here so careless” he was still defending his point.

“I’m careless” understatement of the year.

* You took more candy.

* How disgusting..

“… It usually isn’t like this…” he kept looking at the sides, as if expecting something to happen.

“How is it usually like?” they indulged.

*You take another piece.

“She is always lurking around… I don’t know why she isn’t here…” he whispered, as if afraid to invoke the name of a demon.

“Ok… I will believe you” they hovered their hand over the bowl of candy, the ‘take one’ sign looking at them accusatorily “Ok, I take it back… it’s too much pressure” they retreated, maybe three was already too much, it was like stealing free candy.

“What are you talking about? You have hands, it’s easy for you” But who is the freak who steals free candy?

“Yeah, but…” he eyed them annoyed

* You feel like the scum of the earth…

“You have to do what I say, and I say you eat!” Welp… they did promised him.

They sighed, they were hungry now, the lack of food from the days before catching up to them. They went to take another piece, but their slightly shaking hands toppled the bowl, dropping it to the ground.

* You took too much too fast.

* The candy spills onto the floor.

* Look at what you’ve done.

“She is going to be mad!”

They hurried to put the candies back to the bowl, but now they felt bad again, so just put everything into place and left the bowl without taking any more candies, putting the two uneaten ones on their inventory, and ignoring the shouting flower.

They walked through more traps, Flowey, despite his constant complaints, was incredibly helpful, warning them when there was a fall trap and making safe paths with his vines.

His vines were not particularly strong, they noticed, he couldn’t extend them limitless, and the thickest that they got was as thick as one of their fingers. Also, the longest they got was about 3 meters long, and only two vines at a time, he could make more, but couldn’t move them freely and it would impact negatively on the thickness and length of the other two.

It was enough to lift them though, he complained that they were heavy, but with a little effort, he could make a decent bridge. Of course, he had to first root himself to the ground to then use his vines, otherwise he was too light to support any strength.

He made them avoid falls, pointed which rocks to put on the pressure plates and which rocks were actually ghost monsters possessing a rock, he guided them through a particular extensive fall trap, always pointing the way, as if he had everything memorized by now, they had too, but his memory was much fresher.

They found a ghost monster lying on the way, but when tried to engage in a friendly conversation, he just said he wasn’t up to it right now and disappeared on the walls, they could relate to that.

They did however found a couple of frightened Whimsun, that were easily spared, and a nice Spider Bake Sale, where they bought a donut for later that night, they wanted some cider too, but didn’t have the money for it. Flowey kept unlocking the puzzles or helping them with the answer, it was no surprise that he too was exhausted by the end of the day.

“We should sleep” their legs were tired and the muscles on their back and neck felt quite sore.

“You can’t sleep here” he said while repeatedly popping in front of them, why he had declined their offering of carrying him was beyond them.

“I will just keep going” the ruins were getting darker, reflecting stones on the cavern ceiling dimming every minute, but they were almost sure that there was a house ahead.

“Wrong way, come here” he said tiredly, they wanted to go to the house, but didn’t want to make him upset, so they just followed him to a secret staircase, leading them to other houses on the ruins, it was quite dark when they finally arrived.

He went ahead still searching for something, when he didn’t find it, he signaled them to enter the house, the place was bare, no furniture outside a wooden table and a wooden bed, no mattress.

“Here” he opened a cabinet, pulling a few old blankets, a candle, crayons and pushing back a few papers, they could see complex drawings on them “you can sleep with this” he handed them the blankets.

Three very thin sheets, luckily they were big enough to cover them “How about you? Won’t you get cold?”

“I’m a flower” a little yawn escaped his mouth.

“You say it like it means something”

“I don’t feel cold” If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have the blankets in the first place, but they again left this comment unvoiced.

“It must be more confortable to sleep with blankets”

“I don’t feel comfortable either” they cocked an eyebrow at him “take them and see if you can sleep, the bed is already hard as it is”

“We could see if other houses have mattresses” it would be easy for both of them.

“All the other houses around were emptied when monsters got out of the ruins, you were lucky to sleep on a bed at all” he settled below the table, facing the door and leaning on one of the wooden legs “those houses were so far down no one bothered to steal them” he was guarding the entrance, eyes heavy, and a tired air around him.

“Ok” they didn’t felt like making him upset, they took the first sheet to make some sort of pillow and the other they used to cover themselves “Two for me, one for you” The third they left on the table.

“I don’t need it” he insisted.

“Good night Flowey” they were already facing the opposite way, closing their eyes and ignoring his mumbles.

They heard faintly “Good night” over the sound of ruffling sheets. Sleep didn’t came for them like they hoped, but they kept their eyes closed.

Unwanted thoughts insisted to haunt them for several minutes, getting louder every time it felt like they were almost falling asleep. Flowey lightly snoring felt both like a grounding white noise and a hammer on their heads, the cold biting their feet thought the thin sheet felt like needles, they curled to keep warmth, refusing to take the third sheet away from their brother.

Calmly they waited, unmoving in the uncomfortable bed, an hour, maybe two, until their mind started to wander on more pleasant lands.

They dreamed of several colors of sunlight dancing in a field of flowers, bathing them with pleasant scents, the sound of laughing and crinkling leaves.

They felt the fluffiest fur brush a strand of hair from their face, while they were tucked in. A warm comfort, like a cozy fireplace, and the smell of baking goods.

“Night mom” mumbled to the cloudy form on their dream.

“Do not worry my child” the dreamy voice answered “You’re home now”


	5. To Toriel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writting it helped me.  
8,669 down 50,631 to go.

Yesterday had been a victory.

A confusing, borderline maddening, filled with strange plot twists and a ground breaking discovery victory.

DETERMINATION SOUL

How?

Just how?

By all the odds. How after all this time the human he finds is also a Determination soul?

He had Checked them when they fell, and when they slept, and when they refused to eat, and when they were a pain in the ass in general… but nothing on them even hinted Determination.

From all the time they spent just feeling sorry for themselves he had guessed they would be Patience or some other… **any other** trait!

But no!

Determination!

And not just any kind of determination variant…

They were more determined than **him**!

He didn’t understand…

So he did what he did best.

He observed.

They spent all day carrying the heavy blanket they found, he had been too tired and too fast asleep to see them sneaking out of the house last night, and didn’t asked where they found it, he himself was a little annoyed for not finding it before, and he sure had looked all around the ruins for spare materials.

But, Golly, he was still tired.

This was the fourth day the human spent underground and he was a ball of nerves, what was he going to do with them? The monsters would just kill them, how would he lead them all the way to the barrier? It had to be the perfect timing. Perfect loadings and savings. And hundreds of resets…

He was **not** looking forward to this.

And to make it worse, they refused to fight.

Not negotiable.

A true Idiot.

Yesterday he was confused when they interacted with the save point, but thought they were a human, so… he really had no point of comparison… maybe humans saw the shiny stars too? And that was just the way thing were?

But then they died.

What wasn’t a surprise since they were being so stupid.

But…

They came back.

They used the power of Reset.

**His** power.

He just didn’t understand. How were they back at that save point? Why they just kept going as if nothing had happened?

Maybe they didn’t remember? Maybe he had reset by mistake and ended up there? But it wasn’t his save point… He remembered, his last save was on the house…

But they kept going.

Bullheaded.

Committing the same mistakes.

Again getting themselves killed by being too soft.

He was annoyed and angry.

Until they did **that**.

He had only felt that from Boss monsters.

Their soul pulsed with intent, with power. A warning to the weaker monsters around to back off… They pulsed with DETERMINATION.

Every monster around could feel their intent of not hurting anyone. That nothing would change their mind. That they would change everything on their way to get what they wanted.

He didn’t think any other monster could name the sensation, though … Only he could know what that was, because no other monster had felt that level of determination and not melted away…

But he did … not being a monster had its perks…

Sometimes…

But anyway… he was glad…

Yes…

Glad…

Glad that they had at least picked up the toy knife that morning when he told them to...

Despite refusing to equip the weapon, tucking it on their pants instead.

…

Glad that by lunch he won the argument ‘of LOVE will make you stronger’ and that it was only logical for them to kill monsters as a way to get to the barrier.

Despite they still refusing to take the ‘easy way out’ and gain any LOVE.

…

Glad that by the time it got dark they hadn’t engaged in a single encounter with any other monster.

Despite they still insisting to wave and compliment them from a safe distance…

…

He was glad they had listened to him and kept from going to her house…

Despite…

Oh no…

No no no.

Where were they?

They were following him just now! Where did they go?

Quickly he searched for them.

Aaand they were walking to her front door!

“Are you deaf?” He whisper screamed at them. He didn’t know where she was exactly nor had he seen her on the last three days and it was getting on his nerves “you can’t be here!”

“But there is a trail of candies” they pointed to the food in the ground like they were completely morons! Baby morons!

“That means it’s a trap!” The trail led to her house, and her door was open, there was nothing more obvious than that! What were they thinking?!

“Nope” and they kept collecting the candies! “That means someone really put an effort to meet me” and were approaching **her** house! “It would be impolite not to say hi”

Impolite?!

“Is staying **alive** impolite now?!”

“I’m pretty sure if she wanted me dead, I would be dead by now” Well… yes but…

They still were… “Stupid human” he spat quickly searching for her shadow looming somewhere.

“You don’t like her?” they asked, by the way their eyes lingered he knew all their attention was on him.

“That’s not it…” She was too instable, some days she would feed the Froggits, some days she would kill them… hunt and store their dust “She used to be…” the kindest monster alive, but all those years alone locked on the ruins “she’s not safe anymore” not reliably anyway.

“Hm” was all they said, and walked right to the door with the blanket full of candies.

He saw a form shift by the window and froze.

“Hello?” they had the gall to knock on the open door.

“Greetings my child” she answered… Flowey quickly got cover near a wall and looked from afar, it was dark enough for her not see him now, he was lucky her attention was on the human or she could have sneaked out on him.

“Thank you for the covers” they smiled as if nothing was wrong “and the candies”

She…

She laughed…

“It is my pleasure, child” She sounded like she was having a good day… maybe they wouldn’t get murdered after all “why don’t you come in?”

“Sure!” they looked to the last spot they saw him, as if he was going to stay there… then looked all around the place.

“Are you looking for someone, child?”

“Yep”

No! Don’t tell her about–/

“My brother”

…

What?

“A brother?” her eyes glistened with want.

“Kinda, yes” they said sheepishly “He have been taking care of me since I fell, he gave me a place to sleep, brought me food, even saved my life from a Froggit, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him” the fondness on their voice surprised him.

“Oh… a monster then?” if he had to guess an emotion, he would say she was half disappointed and half curious.

“His name is Flowey”

No!

Don’t tell on him!

“He is this big” they signaled near their leg.

He was bigger than that…

“Always complaining, like an annoying little brother”

They were the annoying ones!

“I see” she said with a half smile “Why don’t you come in and stay the night? We can wait for him here” she opened the door a little more, giving them space to enter the house “He is sure to find you if you stay at the same place”

“Oh, thank you, you are very kind”

She laughed and… they were got in…

That easy…

She had let them into her house.

She had never let any monster into her house.

But she let a human…

Flowey huffed, refusing to move from his hiding spot and waiting for a reset. He knew she was waiting for a human to fall down, but he never imagined that she would be so amiable with them… maybe it was a trick? Maybe she would snap at any moment? Yeah, that was probably it.

So he waited.

And waited.

Aaand he got bored.

If she was hadn’t killed them yet it should be safe for him to peek. Luckily he had made a tunnel to his old room, it should be easy to find them from there.


	6. The Guardian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
11,997 down 50,611 to go.  

> 
> Additional warning tags for this particular chapter on the end notes, not here to avoid spoilers.

Mom was happy.

Not just any kind of happiness, she was beaming.

They could see it in her eyes how important they were to her, and the way she tried not to smile at their every sentence was a heartwarming sight.

How could they have forgotten Mom? She had always been there for them. Fed them, kept them safe, given them a home, a family. She was for a long time the only constant in their life!

But now they remembered her, from the way she had suspiciously asked what they liked better Cinnamon or Butterscotch, to how she would make picnics every Sunday at the park, enjoying the sun under the trees.

None of that happened, the dark fog on their mind added, they had made all those moments disappear forever.

Yet.

They quickly replied. It hadn’t happen **yet**.

Sooner or later she would ask them and they would answer that they preferred Cinnamon, then, when they got to the surface, she would surely want to spend time with her child by the park, they would wrap the little sandwiches she would make and sneak in a few candies on the picnic basket.

It still wouldn’t make it right what they had done, but they had spent time enough mourning for the past, now they were determined to move forward.

Searching through the closet drawers, they heard the familiar screech.

“What are you doing?!” they turned to see him behind a loose wood tile, hidden under the bed.

“So here you are! I looked for you earlier, but you disappeared on me” they went back to what they were doing before “I’m trying to find a measuring tape”

“Why?”

“I can’t remember what my height is” and more important, their current age.

“Why does it matter?”

“I’m a curious person” They struggled not to laugh at his irritated growl.

It wasn’t a lie.

It had been bothering them for a while.

What age were they? They had no scars, so it had to be before… everything… Just to be sure they checked again their arms and legs, not a single scratch.

On all the other resets they never had just forgotten everything like that… Sure, sooner or later it became a blur on their memory, but the important things always had found a way to stick on their minds… This time it was just… foggy…

They held their head, thinking what a mess had they had gotten into… passed the fingers though the scalp and...

Wait, no scars at all? Not even the one of the glass bottle, when they were five years old? how was **that** happening? They were above five! Hell, they were above ten, that much was as clear as day! Maybe even 15?

They needed to find that tape... Yeah, there it was.

It didn’t took long, for them to measured themselves.

1.50m.

That answered **one** question… but raised so many others…

Trying to make sense of what they were seeing they concentrated on the information they had.

“How curious” their mother cooed after measuring the fresh marking on the kitchen door frame “You’ve grown exactly 5 cm again”, the birds sang on the threes behind the window.

They smiled at her like a hamster, cheeks puffed with the delicious omelet. A little cute sign over the plate that had ‘Have an egg-cellent 14th birthday’ written in a beautiful cursive handwrite, they were happy.

“Earth to Frisk” Flowey interrupted their memory, they made an effort not to be mad at him.

“Hm?”

“How long are you going to stare at that?” their vision faded back from the distant morning to the measuring tape in their hands.

“Enough to find out that I’m 14” they put the tape back in the place.

“Ok… whatever, since you’re inside the house we have to be quick, you have to wait until she is busy then go downstairs, she can’t know you are–/”

“No” said firmly.

“No what?”

“She is kind” They wouldn’t just leave her like that “I’m not running away without saying goodbye” Besides, they wanted to sleep on their own bed today.

He stared at them for full three seconds without moving a single bit “I hate you”

“Thank you for worrying about me, Flowey” His angry grunt was adorable.

“Whatever” Said too loud, rolling his eyes “Don’t go crying to me when things go wrong”

“I’m a big kid, I can take care of myself” They appreciated his help, but they **had** been through this without any help before.

“I’ll be outside” he dismissively grabbed the wooden tile.

“Why don’t you stay here?” He just looked at them like he had run out of patience and vanished without answering. It was worth a shot.

They inspected the tile, it was loose enough to be removed, but stable enough that stepping on it wouldn’t move it. Satisfied with his stealth abilities they let themselves fall onto the bed, yawning and stretching their sore muscles.

They were tired, two days of constant walking after three days of not getting out of the bed had taken its toll on them. It couldn’t be healthy, but they had needed the time to recollect themselves.

They pulled the covers over them and refused to move.

She said she would come and wake them up when dinner was ready, and boy, they were hungry.

But tired too.

They felt their body relax under the warmth and coziness of the blankets, they missed this.

A lot.

Comfort…

* Seeing such a cute, tidy room.

They missed a lot more than they had realized, until now.

* Feeling the comfort of your own bed after so long… it fills you with determination.

Mom.

They missed her.

And they would fix things for her.

They would watch the sunrise together and see her happy tears at the school inauguration.

But there was something else bothering them.

Why were they 14?

Of course, they had been 14 before a couple of times.

But they always started at 12. It was one constant of the resets, other was that everything that happened before the save point by the bed of flowers never changed.

They at least had to have the few scars, the glass bottle, or the time they fell from the bike, all prior to underground.

But they didn’t have those.

That was weird.

And a subject for another day.

Now they would take a well-deserved nap.

She woke them up by lightly petting their head, if they were too fast asleep they doubt that would be enough to wake them up, but they were hungry.

“Good morning” They said, knowing it was still dark outside. But it did work, they made her laugh.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have woken you, my child, it is still night” They sat on the bed, while she retracted her hand, standing beside them.

“If I am waking up it’s good morning, if I’m going to sleep it’s good night, the actual time is irrelevant” They said in a professional tone, like giving a lecture on their own antics.

She kept smiling, eyes softening “Dinner is served” stepping away from the bed “Follow me, child”

She didn’t had to say it twice.

They could smell the pie from the corridor, mouthwatering.

She served them a big slice and they enjoyed the crunchy crust and the delicious filling. It wasn’t cinnamon-butterscotch, but it was pretty good.

“Thank you for the pie” they said spilling a little bit on the table, and quickly swallowing avoiding speaking again with a full mouth “If it’s not too much to ask, could you please put some matter in it? I’m a human, we need more matter to grow” Magic food would give them enough energy to function, but they needed real matter or they would be stuck on 1.5m, also something about vitamins that they didn’t entirely remembered.

“Oh, I know dear child, I’ve already put some in there” She wiped the table where they spilled food and went back to the kitchen to wash the piece of cloth, still talking from there “I’ve been hunting for some every once in a while, don’t want my children to go sick”

How thoughtful, “Thank you for going through the trouble” they picked more of the filling to adjust the crust/filling ratio on their mouth.

“Is no trouble at all, dear, dust is rather easy to find”

They stopped the fork half way.

Pie crust crumbling wrongly between their teeth.

“By dust” they struggled not to bite into the food already on their mouth “you mean dirt, right?”

They wanted to swallow the over salivation, but couldn’t find the strength to, the not-masticate food swinging from side to side, making the words sound funny.

“Do not worry dear, I would never put dirt in a pie, it’s just a little monster dust”

They spat the pie on their hand.

“It is claimed to make humans stronger” kept talking from the kitchen, as if there was nothing wrong with her words.

Stomach turning, mouth salivating, they weren’t thinking anymore.

“Kings and queens used to feed from it, they thought it would give them magical powers, how silly of them”

They had to get out of there.

“But humans never had a problem with eating other beings, is it not?”

They got out of the table slowly then ran to the door.

“Child?” They ignored her confused voice and ran out of the house.

“Hey!?” They ignored him, letting their legs take control of their destiny “Wait for me!” They couldn’t.

They ran and ran without a destination, just far away from whatever **that** was. Ran until their legs also betrayed them, making them trip and fall to the ground.

Little scratches on their hands and knees, but that wasn’t a problem.

Their soul desperate as if it was being called to an encounter, but that wasn’t a problem

Their still salivating mouth was the problem, they spat and heaved until everything, every bit of wrongness, was out of them.

It didn’t looked like usual stomach contents. The magic waste as a brown paste, like a… spilled milkshake?

The thought made them threw up again. A shiver running through their spine.

That was wrong… It was just wrong…

Suddenly there was a pain on their side, HP dropping to 5.

They looked around, half expecting to find Flowey, but were greeted with other familiar face.

* Vegetoid – ATK 6 DEF 6

* Serving size: 1 Monster

* Not monitored by the USDA

* Don’t step on the greens

Their legs were trembling, their head spinning, their DEF sure was negative.

How funny…

It was a nightmare…

It had to be…
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  6690:32                              Timeline 2 end.

They woke up to their own screams, their room, their bed.

“What is wrong, my child?!” the door opened with too much force, she darted to protect them… they felt ashamed…

“I…” covering themselves with the warm blanket they wiped the tears “had a nightmare”

“Oh, child” She sat on the bed, near them “fear not, you are safe here”

“I…” empty stomach turning “ate something…” they made an effort to swallow the over salivation “…bad”

She got startled, brushing their hair from their face “you look sick, child, what have you eaten?”

They dry heaved.

Immediately her paws glowed green, and she carefully pressed one over their stomach and the other at their back, it helped a little.

“Someone” they answered shamefully. She made a confused noise “A living being” they complemented weekly.

“In… the dream?” she question carefully.

“Yes”

Her voice was calm and the paws in their back drawn little circles softly, but the glowing faded “Was it still alive?”

“No... but it…” it was wrong “it should be alive instead!” that sensation was just wrong.

“I thought humans survived on eating living beings”

“We don’t!” They looked at her in surprise, humans didn’t eat monsters!

“Don’t you eat fruits and vegetables?” She said softly and unfazed.

“Yes, but they don’t count” That was just normal food.

“Don’t you eat fish? And the creatures of the sea?”

“Yes, but is different…” you could eat fish… it was still food…

“Don’t you eat the creatures of the sky and the earthly beings?”

“… Not all of them” they felt their argument getting weaker.

“Only the weak ones?” that sounded awful.

“Only the not sentient ones”

She chucked and hugged them, they melted to her embrace “They are all sentient, child. You didn’t dream of anything different than reality, there is no need for worrying about it” it didn’t make them feel better though, it was still wrong.

“… I don’t want to eat **someone**” just wrong.

“Hush child, it was only a dream” except it wasn’t.

“They have feelings and hopes” monsters weren’t food.

“Hush hush” she was warm.

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt” that was all they could ask.

“No one is going to be hurt”

They wiped the last of their tears, making an effort to stop crying completely “Promise?” they asked looking her in the eyes, her red, soft and loving eyes.

“I promise”

“Thank you!” they burrowed their head on her fur “thank you” hugging her tighter “thank you…”

“You are a kind one, are you not?” She laughed again and they let her tuck them in “Sleep child, tomorrow it will be a better day” She got up.

“Can i…” They interrupted her, a surge of panic returning to their soul at her movement.

“Yes?”

“Can i hold…” She waited patiently, a wave of embarrass washed over them, and they hid their mouth under the covers before completing the sentence “…your fluffy paws?” she looked confused, but complied.

They held her paws feeling the fluffiness and warmth, it calmed them, until the last timeline looked like a distant nightmare, until they fell asleep on her arms.

*--------------------*

They woke up with something poking their arm, opening their eyes they could see a soft light coming from under the door, warning them it was already morning. Their stomach protesting the lack of food.

“Wake up” another poke caught their attention, Flowey was hovering over them.

“Good morning”

“Good?” that early and he was already annoyed with them “What was all that last night?”

“I had a nightmare”

“A nightmare?” He knew what had happened, they knew what had happened, they weren’t keen on going into details right now.

“But don’t worry, Mom came and made–/”

“She’s **not** your mom” he said serious.

“Sorry” They really didn’t wanted to call her that so soon “it slipped” but he was wrong, she **was** their mother, last night proved it “But she is all motherly, she helped with my nightmare, hugged me when I cried and said everything was going to be ok”

“You are incredibly quick to call random people ~‘your family’~” he mocked “Don’t you have your own humans to go back to?” They identified a little jealousy on his tone and expression.

“Not really” they said simply “I’m an orphan, if I want any family I have to build myself one” that plain admittance caught him out of guard, and he went back to below the bed without a witty reply.

They got up and stretched, the first night well slept in a long time. They didn’t expect to see him still below the bed, facing the ground, in silence...

“Do you want to join us on breakfast?”

He laughed dryly “I’ll be outside” they felt a pang of guilt.

“Wait…” they didn’t want him to feel like they were taking her from him “You heard me yesterday, right?”

“It is hard not to when you scream your lungs out in the middle of the night”

“No, not that… when I called you brother” He didn’t react “Is it ok?” still nothing but a blank stare “Because I really care about you, and for me that’s who you are… But if it makes you uncomfortable, I can stop” From saying out loud at least.

“Whatever” he said, but still looked a little sad “I don’t care what a stupid human calls me”.

“Thank you, Flowey” they said with relief “That means a lot to me” He sighed.

“I’ll be outside” went to the tunnel, but gave a little peek before vanishing completly “And don’t get yourself killed”

That counted as a win.

*--------------------*

“What is that?” they stared carefully at the food before them.

“A simple pie” she said, cutting them a piece.

“That’s all?” the crumbling crust stared back at them, it looked delicious, it smelled delicious, their stomach was **not** keen on the idea.

“You are still worried about your nightmare, child?”

Nodded “you promised?” the affirmation came too weak and uncertain.

“I threw in a little something” she admitted without the mirth of the previous night “But only because you are still young and in need to grow”

“Any…” Feeling their hands get cold for an instant they rubbed their fingers together “…living thing?”

“A few earthly beings to add matter” She said as a _matter_ of fact.

Still not willing to eat another dust pie, nor to clearly refuse her food, they just stood there awkwardly.

“Now now, you will not turn your nose on it child” she said sternly “It is for your own good”

“What’s in the pie?” The cold grew to their stomach.

She stared at them.

They stared at her.

She squinted her eyes, in a warning, as if daring them to say anything else and slowly said “Snails”

They relaxed “Only that?” they could deal with snails, they were tasty if you knew how to cook them.

“Yes child” she seemed pleased at their compliance.

They ate the first bite carefully, as if it could still turn into something else, the rest of the piece was eaten with the voracity of a hungry wolf, she looked at them attentive, so pleased with their response she hardly even blinked.

They took their time to peak at her appearance, now that the morning light made everything clear, they could see the matted and yellowish fur. It seemed out of place, on their memory her fur was always smooth and silky, a beautiful white… now that they stopped and really paid attention to it, even her sclera was a tad yellow, it stroke them as odd… Mom was more lonely than they remembered, if she let herself go like this.

“Did you enjoy the pie, young one?” she stared expectantly.

“Yep” they made sure to give her their best smile, she needed to know that they appreciated the way she took care of them “Thanks Mom”

Wow… that slipped way too soon.

For a moment she blinked “…do you…” she blinked so much it looked like she was getting out of a trance “wish to call me…” then she settled in a surprised tone “mother?”

Well, now that they had already messed **this** up… Yes, they did want to “I mean… if you are ok with it?” and if it’s not too creepy from their part.

“Why… would…” her eyes shone brighter and her smile came natural “would you like to call me that?” they let go the breath they were holding, there was their mother looking back at them.

“If you allow me” they missed her “I would really like that” for a moment they could see joy on her eyes, but then it was back to the foggy dull they were before.

“I… I need a moment” She retreated to her room, maybe it was too soon?

Well, two awkward family interactions in one day… maybe they should listen to Flowey and not ask people to be their family like that... After all it was just five days for them, it was sure too quick to be dumping years of emotional baggage.

It was settled.

From now on they would stop saying how much people mattered to them and start showing it with actions instead.

First step eat the whole pie!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vomiting and Monster Dust – Because Dust Pie, not funny


	7. Of the Ruins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
13,905 down 51,927 to go.

They were full. They had forgotten how good it felt, the simplicity of a belly full of pie.

Mom still hadn’t come back from her room, so they put the dishes on the sink and went to their own room search for… no, that was wrong! Actions speak louder than words!

They returned to the kitchen and washed the dishes.

Much better.

**Then** they retreated to their room. A few things were needed for the plan to take form.

Actions, not words.

They would give her the stars.

Step two gather materials.

Step three go to… the… ‘icy place they forgot the name’.

Step four befriend the hell out of monsters.

Step five break the barrier.

Once monsters were free, it would be obvious how much they loved everyone.

They were sure they were forgetting a few steps along the way. It would probably be smart to make an actual ‘To do’ list at some point. But for now they knew what they needed.

Clothes, food and better equipment. Maybe a backpack with a blanket would be useful too if their foggy memory of cold wind was any clue.

Going again through the closet they saw several yellow and green sweaters, it was strange how they overlooked them last night…

The rational part in them kept reminding that they needed warm clothes, the other half kept saying ‘nope, not messing with dead kid stuff!’

Dead kid**s**...

They remembered the king had collected six, and they were the seventh soul needed to free the underground.

Maybe that's why Mom was so scared, she had lost six children already.

Wrong.

She lost eight.

…

That was… even worse... they… they couldn’t just abandon her after that…

It was settled. They would not leave the Ruins until they had made it right to Toriel.

Step two take care of Mother.

They could leave the Ruins when she was better, when she was happy.

Finding a paper from the art supplies on the room, another list started to form.

Bath.

Sewing clothes.

Pie.

Tidy the house.

Fix her relations with other monsters.

That should do it. And what better place to start than from the bottom of the list? Quickly scribbling a note for Mom, they ran out of the house, calling for the right person to do the job.

“How was breakfast?” he appeared from behind some bushes, still with a half mocking smile.

They carefully made conversation slipping a question here or there to gather information, he was upset, so they would avoid calling her ‘Mom’ in front of him for now. The two of them went back to the abandoned part of the Ruins. He insisting that killing monsters would make them more powerful, and to his annoyance, being denied every time, finally settling in a pleasant silence.

Every house was empty, but they liked hunting for materials here, it was like reliving a piece of monster history, and at the same time exercising their memory on all the right places.

“What are you writing?” He asked after they took a particularly long time looking at the list.

“Just my ‘To do’ list” and now that he broke their line of thought they were struggling to find the right things to add.

“A what?” His completely honest question threw them out of guard, lifting their eyes from the paper, their brother looked quite puzzled, their old translator’s instinct trigged and they went into full explanation mode, years of solving cross cultural miscommunications making the current issue obvious.

“It’s a human technique, you write everything you have to do, and break it into smaller tasks, it makes easier for you to accomplish and to remember things”

“Can’t you just remember it using your head? like normal people?” Maybe he couldn’t make a ‘To do’ list on the first place, maybe he couldn’t write with those vines… they had to test that theory, but another time, now it was deflecting time!

“Please Flowey” They made a show of rolling their eyes “have you met **me**?” and accentuated hand gestures “If my memory was any worse, I could plan my own surprise party”

It seemed to work “since when you are funny?”

They faked offense “I’m always funny”

“Idiot funny, like a dog wearing socks funny”

The mental image brought them joy “Fair enough. But I do have a _point_ here” saying pointing to the list.

“That is?” he pried. They didn’t want to admit it was a list of what they remembered they had to do from previous resets, they also didn’t want to lie to him, so they compromised.

“I’m trying to” compensate “do nice things for” mom “Toriel”

“Why?”

“Because it’s” my fault “sad that she has to live alone on the Ruins. She” is “seems like a” wonderful “good person and I” have to “wan to” make “see her smiling”

“What if I told you she killed people?” They didn’t expect the mood dropping so quickly “Would you still think she is good?” but he looked at them serious and attentive “Would you still stick around?”

“Absolutely” they said brandishing their stick on the air, to punctuate the unintentional pun.

“Why do you still have this thing?” The act seemed to avert Flowey’s attention for the wrong reasons “What happened to the knife we found?”

“Oh, it’s still here, on my inventory” The Toy Knife was dull, they couldn’t think of any remarkable use for it yet, for now it would just hang on their inventory, everything they collected would.

“Equip it!” He ordered while they scanned a next house for materials.

“No, thank you” But they wouldn’t be ordered around, not without a good reason.

“The stick have zero attack” he justified “you know why? Because it wasn’t made for fighting”

“Neither was a piece of plastic” said while finding a boot under the bed, the other half of the pair was nowhere to be seen.

“It was human made! It’s the imitation of a weapon, it had the intent build on it, it’s bound to have some attack”

“Well I have no intent of fighting anyone so, attack is irrelevant” they ignored the angry huff “But I’m still interested on the defense, so if you find any equipment I can actually use, I’ll be grateful”

“I should just ditch you” But he hadn’t, so maybe he too missed them “since she likes you so much she can keep you alive” maybe he too missed Mom.

“You can always join us” it would be nice have them all together, like old times.

“I can’t” he dismissed, entering the next house.

“Why?” they followed, carrying the new found boot and a few pencils.

“Because I can’t!” he said loudly, real anger on his face, but he quickly went back to scanning the house, they let him, pushing too much seemed contra productive “It’s not like she would let me in anyway” he mumbled.

That they could work with.

“What I’m hearing is…” the intonation catch his attention “If she is the one inviting you in, would you join us for dinner?”

“No” Again with the finding problems to their solutions.

“Why not?” said with disappointment clear on their voice.

“I don’t want your pity” Pity? Where did **that** came from?

“It’s not pity, I genuinely want you there” If he could just stop being difficult “You are the one drowning in the self-loathing” he shouldn’t – Wait, did they said it out loud? Were they dumb? “Stop being a coward and talk to her” No! That was equally mean!

“Shut up!” He screamed “Shut up! You don’t know what you are talking about so shut up!”

“I know talking to people can be scary” He probably had done this hundreds of times, for just the mention cause him this reaction, they had to be understanding.

“You don’t know anything!” except they did.

“Ok… I might not know **know**, but I know. You know?”

“No” he deadpanned “You’re stupid and don’t make any sense” maybe they did owed him a better explanation.

“I’ve been here before” he just needed to understand a little “I know things before they happen” he already knew they knew “and the two of you will get along just fine”

“You've never been here before” he knew… didn’t he?

“C’mon Flowey, trust me on this” They struggled not to use his real name.

“You didn’t, I would remember” No, he wouldn’t. Why be so stubborn?

“Ok, ok, how about we go back to the point?” This discussion wasn’t going anywhere “I won’t ask her to take you in” he at least was reasonable enough to listen “But if she offer, you take it”

“She won’t offe–/”

“Good! Then you have nothing to be scared about!”

“I can’t get scared, stupid!”

“So you’ll do it?”

“Whatever” that was the maximum they would get from him. They would take ‘whatever’ over a refusal any day.

After spending the whole day exploring with their brother, right as the lights on the Ruins got dimmer, Toriel found them again. She was frantic on her search, unstable all the way back home, alternating between scolding and hugging them, to the point the walk to her house was two to three times longer.

Gladly, with enough reassurance, they managed to calm her down. Apparently she expected them being back home in time to lunch, and got quite scared that something had happened to them when they didn’t, despite the note they left saying they would be with Flowey.

The mentioned monster vanishing the exact moment she was in sight, didn’t help their case. But they would make it work, starting by telling her how great of a job their brother did, by protecting and guiding them in her absence.

“Do you want to hear some facts about snails?” She asked after dinner, on her reading chair, book already on her hands.

“Absolutely!” Smiling, she threw some interesting facts, they let her read to them, using the time to pay attention on how their memory worked. Nothing she said was new to them, they could actually remember her reading them this same book, on this same chair…

But the memory didn’t came back until after she read the facts out loud, sometimes they would have the next word on the tip of their tongue, but not remember it for dear life until the last second. It was an odd sensation and kept them attentive through half of the book.

But their mind started to wander, maybe if they focused not on her words, but on the meaning of the memory, they could remember something before she said it… maybe they could… try…

“I have a question” Startled by their sudden interruption she seemed a little wary, but they had a point here.

“Are slugs divorced snails?” Her eyes blinked comically.

“Pardon me?”

“You know…” they tried to make an imitation of an old cartoon character, just like they remembered someone else doing “Yep buddy, she took the house” At least they remember the punch line in time, their voice came out a little weird and nothing like what they remembered, maybe was the intonati–/

“Ha ha ha” The loud laugh startled them back to reality “Oh, child” She was beautiful laughing so carefree like that, a warm sensation bloomed on their chest, pride inflating their posture.

They discretely picked their list, adding a new phrase right next to ‘Mother’.

A laugh a day.


	8. There are two rules in life:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
16,555 down 54,608 to go

<del>Step one eat the whole pie</del>

Step two take care of Mother (A laugh a day) In progress

-> <del>Bath</del> (Too yellow) Bleaching (Maybe?)

-> Sewing clothes (Can you even?)

-> Pie => Get cinnamon (Where?) ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

-> <del>Tidy the house</del> (Doesn’t count)

-> Fix her relations with other monsters (especially Flowey)

Step <del>two</del> 3 gather materials => Boot, Toy, Ribbon(on inventory)

Step <del>three</del> 4 go to ‘icy place’

Step <del>four</del> 5 befriend the hell out of monsters

Step <del>five</del> 6 break the barrier

They eyed the list, unimpressed, ten days after they wrote it and the only thing they managed to do was eating pie… She was the one doing all chores, more interested in them learning school things than helping her around the house… it was frustrating, but they wouldn’t give up.

Seemed that the only incentive she needed to tidy the house was a guest, since they got there the house was spotless. They tried helping her on the kitchen without success, after their lucky strike the first day, she always beat them to washing the dishes… Always with a concerned expression, if they were present she would wear a uncertain smile, but they could see right through it.

She didn’t trust them.

They didn’t blame her.

“Is there something on your mind, innocent one?” She asked making a move to grab something.

They promptly handed her the dish towel “Just kid stuff” they watched her drying the dishes with the old towel, everything in Toriel’s house has either rather old, but incredibly well conserved furniture, books and utensils, or plain fresh, ingredients mostly.

“If you have a problem, you can always come to me, child” She said patting their head “I am your mother after all” They could barely suppress the pride on hearing that remark, but now wasn’t time for this, she wasn’t happy, they shouldn't feel proud yet, not when it was their responsibility change that in the first place.

“Can you teach me how to sew?” Clothes were on the old category, smelled like old, but wasn’t bad for the touch, neither caused them any skin reaction, they tested, and were fairly well conserved. But her clothes, on the other hand, were ripped around the edges and had a few holes on them.

“Of course” They actually had tried to fix them and surprise her, only to find out they definitely did **not** knew how to sew “I can insert this on our curriculum for this semester” They could feel warmth radiating from her voice just at the thought “On the condition you only use a needle in my presence” she added, half teasing.

“Ok” whatever they had done on the other resets, this run gained the cup of having their fingers stabbed by needles… those little pointy things were evil “Only with supervision” which was odd, sewing seemed like a useful capacity to have.

The thought of them ignoring a survival ability like this made them question their wisdom.

If it was survival, they had to learn it.

It’s not like they could rely on other people to do it for them all the time. Who on these days knew how to sew anyway?

“Then I’ll be delighted to teach you” That is outside of their wonderful mother, of course.

“By the way, yesterday I wanted to cut myself some pie, but I couldn’t find any knife” Not a single one since they appeared, they kept waiting to catch her using one, but she seemed not to like using the it, which strike them as odd.

“Well… you could have asked me child, I would give you a piece” If she was uneasy, she didn’t show, maybe they could be a little more clear without alarming her.

“And today there aren’t any knives on the sink either” She stopped putting the plates away.

“You… are a very observant child” Now she was unease, great…

“I am old enough to use a knife, you know” She didn’t answer “and I like pie!” she chuckled a little.

“I have no doubt about it” just a little, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes “but I still worry”

“I could have a dull knife if it makes you feel better” **They** would feel better with a sharpened one, but a dull knife was better than no knife.

“How about a pie knife?” uneasiness again creeping into her voice.

“Perfect!” Anything to not listen that borderline painful intonation.

She placed a kiss on their forehead, and moved back to the shelf, her hand way above her field of vision to grab something high, what must be at least 3 meters. She must have noticed their confusion.

“See, I was hoping to find children, even younger than yourself” she handed them a simple silver pie knife, it wouldn’t serve as a tool, but now they knew where she had the silverware hidden, carefully they put it with the other cutlery “I had to make sure the house was safe for the little ones” it wouldn’t needed to be this tall for children...

Maybe younger humans wouldn’t be her only concern.

Smart move.

“Are you playing with your brother today?”

“Yep” It had become a routine.

“Come back before dark this time” Every morning she would give them lessons, every afternoon they would explore the ruins with Flowey.

“Ok” They were sure that the ruins hadn’t any more equips, but random encounters with monsters and regular exercise had made them happy on the small place they called home.

“And I mean it this time” She followed them to the door “If you are late, you are getting no dinner, young one” it was an empty threat, she was always so relieved they came back she mysteriously forgot to keep her word... That is until the next day, when they got no dessert for making her worry, pity, they liked desert.

“Bye mom” They waved at her, asking themselves if she would follow today, Flowey had confirmed she had done it the first week they went out, at first he got jumpy with the idea, but then he got used to it.

Now it seemed she got used to the idea as well, since she hadn’t followed them for two days in a row.

“She’s not joining us this time?” As always, he waited for them on the distance, from a position she couldn’t see.

“Maybe” he looked a little grumpy, did he wanted her to follow them around? “How was your morning?”

“Awful, that Froggit keep following me, don’t matter how many tunnels I use, he always find me, every single day”

You mean that one?” They pointed to the innocent monster, listening to Flowey’s frustrated screech.

“Stop following me you idiot!” The Froggit just hopped closer looking them in the eyes.

“Hi” they waved.

“Don’t encourage him!” ignoring the Flower, the Froggit croaked back.

“Are you the guy from before? The one with a strong headbutt?” until today, that Froggit and the ghost were the only ones that got away before they could spare them.

Froggit croaked timidly, while Flowey grumbled.

“You want to show me the place around?” the frog croaked decisively, leading the way, they promptly followed.

“Are we really doing this today?” Despite his ‘tired of your bullshit’ air, he followed.

“Why? Have anything better to do?” since they fell he seemed to spend all of his time with them, except for when they were on the house, then he just waited outside, that had to change one of these days…

“Don’t let him outsmart you again” he warned morosely.

“Why so serious?” they joked.

“Can’t believe that I would end up as a babysitter for two dummies” he murmured, the Froggit did not paid any attention to it, going ahead on strong jumps.

“It’s not that bad” They were heading to a part of the path containing the pitfall traps, the Froggit dodged them expertly, they let him lead the way, despite having it memorized by now.

“It is when **a frog** is the smart one” They only smiled and let him rant about their stupidity on not becoming stronger and stubbornness on not escaping her house while she slept.

This Froggit was a particularly smart one, he managed to avoid all the traps, follow Flowey until he tracked his way back to them. It almost took away the sting of dying… almost.

He led them to other monsters, apparently his own family, they spent a nice afternoon complimenting and playing catch. Flowey complained about a wasted afternoon, but after he found a playmate, they caught him smiling every once in a while, a little Froggit, small enough to fit on his leaves, jumped and dodged his vines, while he pretended to be a giant monster.

With the diming of lights they waved goodbye to their new friends and headed home, he followed without any complaints, it gave them an idea. They asked him to wait for them on the entrance of the spider baking sale, his good mood allowing the detour without too much of a fuss.

Getting there they quickly approached the biggest web, whispering to the spiders about the two items they needed, leaving a few coins on the web. Spiders were resourceful, they remembered that.

Going back to Flowey they made conversation for the rest of the way home. The reflecting stones on the ceiling of the cave were already dim for a while, it was night out there, they kinda missed seeing the moon and stars.

“You will miss dessert again” the flower said, bringing them back to reality.

“That’s fine” although they liked the homemade sweets, their mission was more important.

“I though you liked cookies”

“And caramels, and chocolate, and sweet sweet pie” their mother knew how to cook, the memory tantalizing, they could almost taste it, all they had to do was get home in time and they would have a delicious reward.

“You’re drooling” They clasped their mouth shut and tried to clean themselves, only to find out they were **not** drooling, what a liar! They shoot him an irritated look, he meet the stare with his ‘whatever’ face.

“Greetings children” They both looked at the old monster hidden behind the tree, they with mildly surprise, he with growing anxiety.

“Hi mom” they promptly gave her a hug, he mumbled something, but her fur made it inaudible.

“And you should be Flowey” he nodded, making an effort not to tremble on his roots “The little one told me all kinds of good things about the valiant brother that protected them all this time”

“…m… ot… …t” he didn’t met her eyes, all the time looking at the ground, his damaged petals seemed to wither under her gaze, they never saw him that emotive before, not when they called him brother, not even when they called her mother, maybe he was more scared than they realized.

“Pardon me?” If he was that terrified, maybe they should give him a way out? She was never going to hurt him, they’ve been putting in a good word for him every night, but he didn’t know that.

“I’m not valiant” He repeated still quietly, his stem trembled, he looked small. They let go of her arms, determined to save their brother, but quicker than they could react, she beat them to him.

“Of course you are” She said gently, kneeled before him, they did not know if he got even smaller, or if it was just the subconscious comparison to her massive size that made him appear like that “You are very brave and very kind, young one, I can see that” they stood at her side, maybe it would turn out ok, if they didn’t interfere “Why don’t you join us over dinner?”

Like a sudden wave of fireworks in an empty night.

His face lifted to meet hers, an expression of wonderment and uncertainty, his petals gained color, on his eyes the shine of a precious memory, his mouth opening slightly to give her a reply.

Then it was gone… like the dying lights on the dark sky.

“Thank you, but… I’ll… I’ll just…”

“Please, I insist” She remained calm and gentle.

Avoiding her gaze “I would just destroy your floor” he laughed humorlessly “and dirt your house” He looked defeated, that wouldn’t do. They knew this expression, they had worn it too, he had tried it more times than what he could afford to fail.

“It is not a problem, we can–/”

“I can’t be uprooted, my roots have to have something firm to cling on” he interrupted her. Well, he didn’t have to be uprooted, they could put him in a pot.

“Then–/”

“Pots won’t do either” Or not… thinking about it, it was a too obvious of an answer for him not to have already tried “It’s too compact, I can’t breathe, the roots get squeezed” It had to be a solution somewhere.

“We could–/”

“Eating outside it’s a bad idea” they just had to think outside the box “without fire it would be all too dark to see”

“I could easily–/”

“A fire would be a bad idea” She was getting more frustrated at each interrupted attempt, he had already gave up “the Whimsuns would be attracted by it and catch fire”.

“We could–/”

“Thr–/”

“A boot!” they interrupted his interruption, with a raised finger “We could use a boot!” wasting no time, they took the Old Boot and the Toy Knife out of their inventory.

“To what? Stomp the fire down?” They used the piece of plastic as a shovel, filling the boot with dirt.

“It’s big, so you have enough space” they struggled to pierce the ground, ruining the knife, but getting earth enough to fill the recipient “There you go!”

Flowey eyed them incredulously “That’s like a pot, but worse”

“Please child, at least try it” She encouraged him, opening space for them to approach.

“Humor me a little, please?” he still stared at them, without any expression “pleeeeease?”

Rolling his eyes he lifted is vines, entering the boot. It was a fun sight, he looked bigger, but so much thinner than they had imagined.

“So?” they asked expectantly.

“It’s like a pot” he paused, looking them in the eyes “But worse” they gave him a displeased face, he had to at least try! “It have no space, I’ll suffocate in here!”

“You can untie those strings for more space” they pointed to shoelaces “or even pass your roots through these holes” he looked at them and tried a few experimental wiggles, poking two of his main vines out of the boot.

“What about now?” she asked him, he looked uncertain again.

“Maybe?” a few more movements and him using his roots to put more earth on the makeshift pot morphed his expression to something lighter “I guess…”

“Wonderful!” she said haply.

“Finally! Now we can share a room again!” They caught the boot on their arms, like a precious treasure.

“I just agree to a dinner” he seemed to adjust to the new environment, holding on their arms with a vine for extra support.

“And a sleepover!” they added with little jumps of happiness.

“She didn’t invite me to stay the night, stupid!” he said between hisses, they stopped jumping.

She coughed “Flowey, please refrain to name calling, this child found a solution for a puzzle both of us could not, they are anything but stupid” he gulped “Besides, they are right, you two can share the room as long as they wish for”

“And I’ll tell you right away, brother, if it depends on me we are sharing it until the end of times!” He scoffed at them, but they could see how his petals looked vivid, his posture upright, his stem and leaves doing little happy wiggles.

After all this time, a dinner in family was all they wished for.


	9. 1.Never give all the information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
20,080 down 54,071 to go

They were trapped.

Running.

Tired.

Didn’t know what to do.

Didn’t know where to go.

The underground had gone empty.

They called for their friends, someone, anyone.

From the dust covering their hands, came the answer.

On the shape of gut-wrenching screams.

“What is wrong with you?”

They were suffocating.

“Why do you have to do this every night?”

Hands trembling on their mouth, they rocked themselves.

“It’s just a nightmare!”

Soft whimpers came out of their sore throat

“What are you, a baby?”

Their brother was on their side holding their arm supportively.

“Scared of every little dream?”

They let their hands fall to his vines, taking deep breaths and trying to calm themselves.

“You’re lucky she was already sleeping this time” He was close, holding a fluffy thing to their arm, they took it.

It was the plush goat. Mom had restored it for them, it was all white, with soft fur, they touched the little curvy horns, and the small cute paws, fidgeting with the delicate wool, breathing deeply, listening to their brother’s voice. 

“Or she would go another night with only four hours of sleep” The warm blanket, the vine patting their back, the familiar room, slowly it all made sense.

“Is…” they struggled to form a sentence.

“Yes, we are here and alive and blah blah blah” That was the only thing that mattered “So what was the stupid dream this time?” He never failed to ask.

“Underground…” they wheezed, feeling the texture on their hands, imagining their mother was the one holding them “Empty”

“The one we all left and you stayed here all alone?”

The guilt was crippling, but they battled for the strength to nod.

“It’s a stupid dream, we are trapped, remember?”

Yes, they knew that well.

“And even if we were free… Now that she has her claws on you, you aren’t going anywhere alone”

They could relax at that thought.

“Now go back to sleep, I’m tired” They cleaned their face with the sheets, grabbing the glass of water she had left on the nightstand.

“Good night... Flowey”

“Night” He made a cocoon of the little blanket around him.

They couldn’t sleep, though.

Their mind wandered to dark places every time they closed their eyes.

So they kept them wide open. It was night, the lamp as off, the room was faintly illuminated by a small star beside their bed, the golden light was pretty, they could stare directly and still don’t hurt their eyes.

Flowey could see it too, the save point had appeared in the room on the first night they saved here.

Mom could not, she had even commented how good their night vision was, when she caught them writing in the bed. They had thought the lamp was on, but it was just the star.

She had then proceeded to give them a lecture about eyes and the importance of a well-lit place to study, and posture and a good reading chair with proper back support. Flowey had looked smug the whole time. He always got this weird satisfaction seeing her scolding them, maybe because they actually listened when **she** was the one talking.

Lately he had even started to deliberately threaten them with it, when he wanted something they were not in the mood to do, he would became smug and say in a sing song voice ‘I’m telling her’, it was most of the times enough for them to rethink the situation, they didn’t want to worry Mom.

It was a two way street though, since he moved with them he had to control his tongue. Mom would not have kind of degrading comments, he would only ever call them ‘idiot’ or ‘stupid’ when they were exploring the ruins, far away from her. And when he slipped and called them names inside the house they would just smile smugly, seeing his face as he realized his mistake, and either smugly call for her, or hear his pleas of mercy, whatever felt funnier at the moment.

Seeing him sleeping on the boot was soothing, he was calm, he was safe. Mom was too. She was clearly doing better than when they first found her.

But it wasn’t enough.

And they had a list to prove that.

Maybe if they couldn’t sleep, they could start the day early.

They started writing down their thoughts and doing some drawings. Not that they were particularly good at drawings, but schemes were easier to remember than words.

They had gotten used to their lack of memory, if they really concentrated they could remember a thing or two, but they had to have a clear goal in mind. Putting themselves through different situations helped, a kind of learning as you go, they instinctively knew how to deal with a few monsters and better yet, they hadn’t lost a single fight since eating the pie.

Their muscles had more memories than their brain, apparently.

But then again, drawings.

Sometimes they would remember things in dreams, things that were not easy to put in words. On their dreams their friends were shadowed figures, nameless and voiceless.

There was a happy red and white and a calm white and blue, they drew the two patterns on the paper. For some reason it felt like they needed a little bit of indigo connecting them, then a little bit of orange and green for the first, and yellow for the second. They ended up with a page full of messy colors. But looking at it made them feel warm.

Next page they drew a strong indigo and a soft yellow, adding green to the first and purple to the second, the colors became fuzzy in this page, the forms were more important, they drew something like an arrow and a TV.

The third page they drew Mother, themselves and their brother, in a much less abstract way, they were holding hands and happy… but there was someone else that should be there… circling the three of them they drew a circle of white and yellow, on the outside of the circle they filled the page with blue and orange with bits of purple all around.

It took them quite some time, but they were proud of their art. Knowing that only they would know the meaning of it was rewarding.

But enough of drawing for today, they heard door noises and saw glimpses of light outside the door. Got out of the room silently, careful not to wake him up, they were taking too much of his sleep as it was, he deserved to rest.

She was in the kitchen, and seemed to be carrying a bag? It didn’t seem like she had just woken up. They approached quietly.

“You are up early, child” or at least they **thought** they were being quiet.

“Good morning” since they failed at being stealth, they just approached giving her a big hug, she gently brushed their hair, battling to keep a few rogue strands out of their face, they just giggled at the concentration on her face.

“Are you hungry?” Giving up from fixing their hair she grabbed something from the bag “I have something for you” pouring it on a cup she handled it to them.

“Apple!” they cheered while she grabbed a few more items for breakfast “How?” the liquid lingered on their mouth, it tasted like human food.

“It was a little tricky… but this old woman still has a few tricks up her sleeves” but how? There was no apples on the underground “Let’s say I have several little friends I can count on” little friends? She laughed at their confusion “if I’m willing to pay, that is” Oh! So the spiders had brought new items, they had to go take a look, after a whole month of waiting for their request, it was about time for it to arrive!

Having juice and a snail dish for breakfast, they negotiated having the classes for the afternoon instead, they were excited to see if the spiders had gotten the right items, and to start plotting how to use them.

They got out of the house without problems, but hadn’t walked too far before a displeased grunt made them aware of the flower following them.

“So you would just ditch me there?” they swore he had bags under his eyes.

“I just wanted you to have a little more time to sleep” he was following them on the ground, boot forgotten on the house.

“Yeah, and leave me alone with her…” they didn’t understand why this bothered him so much.

“I didn’t know she would wake you” It was no use, he kept complaining the whole morning, all the way from the spiders, who had fortunately brought a package for them until their way back home, when they found Napstablook.

They still hadn’t had a meaningful conversation with him, every time they were lucky to find him he vanished… at least the last few times they could talk a bit, before he disappeared. He seemed lonely, despite affirming he went here to be left alone, maybe it was just a matter of time until they grew on him.

They got home before lunch, quietly entering the house and hiding the package under their bed, they set Flowey inside the boot.

“Already back, child?” Her voice came from some unidentified place on the house, they could tell she was far, damn, she must have a super hearing or something…

They could test that “I am, is lunch ready?” they spoke in a soft voice, but she didn’t answered “I scrapped my knees a little, could you heal me?” said in a normal volume, it should give them a reaction... but it didn’t.

“You fell again?” he asked instead “How hard is walking with your human legs?” They made a shushing noise, so he quickly proceeded to ignore them. Still only calm and distant steps approaching.

When she finally reached the room she just called them for lunch and that was it, maybe she didn’t heard a thing, which was confusing, but they let it slide.

They spent the afternoon focusing their energy on the lessons and trying to ignore Flowey’s weird faces. He wanted them to miss what she was saying, and tried to cause a fuzz in general, they could see he was tired, but still he successfully hide every time she looked at him.

The afternoon went slowly, and the lessons were not that particularly interesting, but they still managed to pay attention for Toriel’s sake. Still they couldn’t be more happy when she released them for the day, going to her room, saying something about planning the next lessons.

They quickly ran to the kitchen, school activity always took her some time, and they were eager to get something done. Flowey just eyed them from the table on the other room, he knew better than question their weirdness, but they knew that if she got out of her bedroom he would find a way to warn them.

Scanning the kitchen they eyed the shelf, there was no way they could just reach there, maybe if they climbed…

With careful steps they balanced their feet on the cabinets, they successfully avoided making noises, the wood was strong, it didn’t even creak under their weight. The cabinets were far too distant from the shelf, but they had a nice view from there, something metallic caught their eye, she hadn’t moved the silverware since then.

Good.

It meant they could snatch a knife before running away.

…

It meant she trusted they wouldn’t…

Ignoring the surge of guilt they jumped back to the ground, they could steal a knife on any other day... not on the one she brought them their favorite juice…

Talking about juice!

They poured a big cup for themselves, enjoying how it tasted. It was definitely human made. It didn’t have the frizzling touch of magic, and left their breath smelling like apples, mouth watering from the weird sensation of a food made completely of matter.

Mom’s pie had matter, but it was mostly magic, this juice was more than just tasty, it was necessary for their development and survivor in the long run, it was very thoughtful of her to get them this.

They poured themselves another glass, a bit of juice on their stomach will be nice after the nightmares, maybe this time they can spare Flowey the trouble of comforting them.

Filling the cup till the brim, they left the bottle on the fridge, almost empty, they ignored this, going quietly to their room, one step after the other, so the liquid didn’t spill.

“Stealing juice? Really?” They stick their tongue out, passing by him in determined strides, apple juice was important enough!

He just rolled his eyes and kept reading the books on the table.

They didn’t have to be judged for the amount of juice they drank, they had done a decent job so far, they didn’t have any results yet, but they were working hard! And yes, their plan involved stealing from the most loving monster underground, but they had to do it! It wasn’t because they wanted to! And it wasn’t like they were hurting anyone, it wasn’t like they were going to hurt her, they weren’t… they–/

Crash!

The sound of breaking glass and sudden cold on their feet made them avert their gaze from the memory to the floor, it was a mess of juice and little shards, they spluttered apologies, paralyzed.

“Oh, child!” The monster formerly engulfed in flames morphed to take their mother’s form “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” She was over them in an instant, the door to her room open in the hurry.

“Sorry” all her trouble to get fresh juice and they were wasting her efforts.

“No, it’s my fault, I shouldn’t be wandering” It was her house, she had all the right of walk around, they were the one startled for nothing.

“I dropped it” they had to stop being so disperse, it could be dangerous on serious situations.

“I startled you” her insistence caught their eye, she was hunched over them, not caring for the mess and probably stepping on the broken glass, guilt dwelling on her eyes.

“Mom” she looked at them, pupils small in a fear they didn’t understand “You didn’t do nothing wrong” she smiled, strained, empty.

“I should pay more attention” She pat their back softly, the usually comforting gesture was nothing of the sort, they could feel on her touch the underlying darkness dashing her hope.

“It’s just a cup of juice” it made no sense.

“What if you got hurt?”

“I’m fine” They were not the ones stepping on glass.

“But I…” They held her head with both arms.

“Mother” she looked quickly in their eyes “It’s ok” her expression was difficult to read “I’m ok” they smiled, trying to make her believe it, holding her incredibly tense shoulders, she seemed to ease a little.

“How about I clean this then?” She got back to her usual posture, her eyes much more serene than before.

They nodded “I can collect the shards an–/” Before they could finish she had scooped them up in her arms.

“Absolutely not young one” Her height and broad torso made them feel small, the easiness she carried them only added to feeling like a toddler “you are not getting near broken glass barehanded **and** barefooted”

She delicately placed them on the reading chair, signaling for them not to move “But I can help!” For the first time they felt annoyance for being infantilized, they had dealt with worse things than glass.

“By getting cut and bleeding everywhere?” Flowey taunted from the table.

“I can handle sharp objects” They retorted, he looked at them with a strange expression, then looking at mom, she was walking to the kitchen. He leaned closer, they understood, angling the chair so she would not see their interaction.

“Do **not** get hurt in front of her” he whispered quickly “you saw how she got” by the seriousness on his tone he had seen the whole scene “she don’t deserve that” they agreed.

“There there” as soon as she entered the room they pretended nothing had happened “Now stay still, there may be some shards on you” She kneeled in front of them, holding a piece of cloth.

Delicately she cleaned their foot, making sure to dry and remove any solid piece. If it was that important to her, they didn’t mind behaving like a child. Diligently she did it again, using a little bit of green magic, just to make sure.

“Cat got your tongue?” His mocking tone confused them, but instead of his evil face he had a serious one, right, they must have been quiet for too long.

“Silence is the best reply to a fool” They countered, he made a disbelieving noise, but they were on the same page. She was looking at her handwork, like convincing herself that they were unharmed “Don’t you think mother?”

“Ha ha” she was quick on disguising her distress “Your sibling is correct, sometimes silence is more powerful than words”

“So they get to call me a fool, but I can’t call them an idiot?” Her hand stopped fidgeting on the cloth, she seemed to be either real quick to get a hold of herself, or have some practice on ignoring her own discomfort to assist the ones she cared for.

“It’s not an insult if it’s true” They beat her to answering him.

A few more rounds of nitpicking earned them long minutes of scolding, by the end of it, she was back to her usual self and they were sent back to their room without any cookie for the night, but only after she attentively cleaned the hall from the glass, still smelt like apple, though.

The whole ordeal had taken longer than they thought, taking the bag from under their bed they held the first item, a flask of powdered cinnamon, deciding to postpone baking to a happier day the flask was promptly hidden on the drawer.

The second item was a unbranded bottle that read ‘make your fur fabulous’ and ‘snow version’, there were a few instructions handwritten on the back. They hoped the money was enough to buy something decent, but if their guts told them to trust the little spiders, trust they would.

“So what?” he asked yawning, safely allocated on the nightstand beside their bed “you are just going to ditch this thing on her soap?”

“I was thinking of going for a swim and convincing her to join me… **then** ditching it on her soap”

“Sounds dumb” How he could not see how fun an entire day playing in the water would be?

“Have a better idea?” Asked, already expecting a negative answer.

“A hair cut”

“A what?” Her fur wasn’t long enough for it to be called hair…

“Your hair is long, it’s getting in your eyes, she ask if you want her to cut it for you, you say yes, but you want to make her hair too, she laughs, say yes, and you use this thing the right way” he said sleepily.

“That… is actually very thoughtful” if it worked they would comment how pretty she was, and she was surely to want to use that on the rest of her fur.

“That’s cause I don’t do the first dumb thing that comes to my mind” He closed his eyes in another yawn “I think before acting” getting comfortable, a little blanket around his stem.

“Well, thank you, it’s the perfect idea” he had his eyes closed, but he smiled a little, he should be exhausted “good night Flowey”

“Night” he murmured.

For his idea to work they should make it obvious they needed the haircut, so she was the one to offer, then they could demand the exchange. Simply asking her seemed too straight forward, but if she didn’t gave the first step, they could always try it.

“The hallway is clean” she announced opening the door softly and entering on the room “But just to make sure, don’t walk barefoot until I clean it again tomorrow” tucking them in the blankets she looked completely fine now “The night has a habit of hiding small missteps”

“Good night” said making an acknowledging gesture.

“Good night, child” She gave a light kiss on their forehead, turning to Flowey, that slept on the nightstand “Good night for you too, young one” she said tucking his blanket.

“Night mom” She tensed for a second, then relaxed a lovingly feeling all but emanating from her.

“Your brother is a funny child” she said with a smile on her face, he was still pleasantly unaware of the world around him.

“He is” turning the lights off, she walked out of the room. They wondered if they should tell him about his unconscious confession, or if this would make him avoid her more than normal. They decided not to. They would save this memory as it was.


	10. Knock Knock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
21,991 down 52,346 to go

“So no one dusted you yet” she said before he could even knock.

“getting worried ‘bout me, old gal?” he teased, letting himself fall on his usual spot at the door.

A sarcastic laugh echoed from inside, he didn’t know much about acoustics, but he would bet it sounded like a big room, with long halls “Just wondering how no monster caught someone with such a predicable routine”

“believe me or not I'm really hard to track…. and that's not the only thing that's _hard_ ‘bout me” said in a mocking tone.

“You are late, punctually 40 minutes late. I would think about rescheduling our meetings if i didn't knew that you would show up 40 minutes late anyway”

“so I’ve been bad” he adjusted his thick coat, closing it to better protect his ribs “ya want to _punish me_?” teased again, hearing the expected laughter.

“Oh you would certainly wish so” He thanked the stars for her mood today.

“I know ya _LOVE_ me~” he purred, her laugh through the door always made him less miserable, she was the one person he knew wouldn't kill him... mostly because she was locked behind a magic sealed door, the fact that she was lonely enough to like his jokes was a huge bonus “ya were _dying_ to hear my sexy voice”

“How pretentious!” She said with mock offense, thinking about it, not just today… she was on an incredible good mood lately “I was just here, sitting by myself _killing_ time~”

“sounds like a party, what else yer killing lately?” She shifted through a constant set of moods weekly, between happy, sad, murderous, and apathetic, then back again to happy. This happy strike was taking two months, he was almost fearing the sad drawback and how it would affect the reclusive monster.

“Not much, I've been keeping myself busy most of the time” well that was unexpected.

“yer building new puzzles or some shit like that?” She had talked extensively that there was nothing to do in the Ruins except the puzzles that she maintained them as a part of monster forgotten culture and history.

She laughed warmly, last time he heard that laugh he was telling her about the first time little Papyrus used healing magic “Well you might say there is something _puzzling_ about them”

“welp, whatever 'they' are it's working for ya” he thought about telling her she sounded happy, and mentally kicked himself for it, door or not, showing weakness was still showing weakness “haven't sound batshit crazy for a while”

“Aaarrrg” she hissed, didn't sound like the usual reptile monster, too much throat, too little forked tongue, he would have to cross that from the list “you insult me” the sound came from a place a little higher this time, and there was shuffling around her, shit, she had gotten up, he just wanted to nitpick, not to actually spoil her mood.

“h-hey come on, old gal, ya know yer one of the few sane people down this hole, huh?” She stopped moving with his pleading lie, sane was the wrong word, but talking to her was easily the safest moment of his day, she couldn't kill him and would always tell when someone else was approaching the door “just, just stay a little longer, just, just _throw me a bone_ here, will ya?” Safety was not something he was willing to mess with.

“Well” to his relief she didn't sound angry, she was amused “since someone is so desperate to _spill his guts_ out, I could stay for a little longer” she hated the word crazy, wasn't she even a little mad at him? “What is new out there?”

“look like I _dig my grave_ back here huh?” He hated to sound desperate “I’m just curious, it’s all”

“I do hope you are not a cat monster then”

“wha–/” they never spoke about what kind of monsters they were, not that he wasn’t curious, but deep down he was glad she never asked “why?” Didn't she want–/

“Because _curiosity killed it_“

...

“fuck”

He held himself not to laugh too much, but failed.

“I walked right into this one”

“Indeed” her voice was warm and inviting, thank the stars he hadn't messed up.

He clutched his nearly healed ribs, each laugh sending a shot of pain to his spine, still worth it, he needed this laugh.

“But seriously, do tell”

“well snowdin is still a shithole, the dogs keep giving Boss a hard time” and making him angrier every day “Grillby's still good tho, best burgers, great drinks, free mustard”

“And what is bothering you, my friend?” For someone going only by his voice, she was almost as perceptive as he was.

He leaned his head on the door, closing his eyes, clinging to her last word “ya know me” his bones protested the new position, he could still feel the hard punches breaking his ribcage and the hateful stare “_nothing gets under my skin_” he shouldn't have overslept again, he knew Boss would get mad, he was asking for it at this point. “what about ya? nothing to share? the new found key to happiness?”

She was silent for a long moment, he was almost worried that she had caught on something else on his voice, but quickly dismissed it, he had kept his usual smile on place, no one could tell that something was wrong when he managed to keep his smile.

“**They** happened” she said almost apologetically “I am keeping them on the Ruins, they are safe here” well now it sounded less like a puzzle and more like an actual monster.

“who's the lucky fella?”

“A child” she confirmed his suspicion.

“a child, huh?” it made sense for her being happy, monster children were so rare these days, the last one he heard of was born 20 years ago, didn't developed right, still a small toddler to this day, not that **he** from all people, could say something about it.

“Well... two children, as far as I can tell…” he could hear the smile on her voice “one keeps hiding from me, but still stay near every time he think I'm not looking, and the older one is so sweet, they insist in saying they are siblings, and calling the smaller their brother” she laughs “he always scoffs at them, but I believe the feeling is mutual”

“heh, seems like ya got yerself a new family”

“Do you think so?” She sounded hopeful, more than he had ever heard her “Do you think I...” And she started laughing, but as it progressed it shifted from the warm tone to a more darker one “they… called me mother” the following hiccup sounded awfully like a sob “mother”.

He hadn't heard her cry in a long, long time “hey, don't let the runts get to ya” he didn't knew what to do, an open show of emotions like this was not something normal people did, but he sure as hell wanted to do something for her “ya don't have to go on adopting every–/”

“But I want to!” She wailed, shit, what did he do this time? “Is… the thing I… most want in *sob* in this world… to be *sob* called mother again”

He tried to say something, but he didn't know what, unwilling to say something to upset her even more, he just let her cry.  
Stars, she sounded as bad as when she guilt tripped him to make that promise… not that she knew she was guilt tripping him…  
There was no way she figured he was the one that handed the green soul to Asgore.

“I just… I can't lose any more children” shit… “how could I lose them?!” Shit, shit, what does he say?

“ya ain't gonna lose anyone” it's a blatant fake generic lie, but it made the crying noise pause “yer the strongest monster down there, right?” he tried to make his voice sound gentle.

If she wasn't strong, she wouldn't be able to sense the presence of people approaching, not from the other side of a magical door. There was a quiet murmur in response, he considered it an affirmative.

“i bet ya can scare anyone from messing with them” he knew she could, on her murderous days she could be terrifying, a dark aura screaming LV.

“I… I could…” she said “but I… I don’t think it’s necessary...” Why? Wasn't she scared of them getting killed a second ago? The mood shifts were not usually that quick “They… they befriended everyone”

…

“what?”

A small laugh just deepened his confusion.

“what do ya mean they **befriended**…”

“They” she was catching her breath “they made friends, with every monster on the Ruins” every strong monster he thought, everyone that mattered “from the weakest Whimsun to… well… me”

“how?” The surprise was evident, there was no way, the Ruins couldn't be all that friendlier than the rest of the Underground, it was impossible.

“Well” she said happiness surging again on her voice, a little bit of pride too “They are very _determined_“

He froze.

DT didn't sit well with monsters, he knew that.

She didn't know he knew that.

Hell! Most monsters couldn't even name the seven major soul traits, so as far as she knew he couldn't either…

And the only other time he heard her crying was when he told her the king had gathered another soul… another **human** soul…

“fuck”

He quickly covered his mouth, as if it would take the words away… it was only a whisper… maybe she hadn't heard him… she couldn’t know he knew.

“good thing they are” he managed to keep his voice even “sounds like a real sweetheart this one…” he had to make a joke to fake normality “having to worry about fights would be a major _buzzkill_ for ‘em”

“Ha, ha, ha, indeed! They are just too sweet for this world”

“heh… a… a little _angel_ right?”

She hesitated.

He cursed himself, of course that she would know of the prophecy, she was old, old monsters loved those things 

“Yes” seem to be thinking, but not cautious, had caught the meaning, but not the joke, if he could guess “They are my little angel” said nostalgic “and I will smite anyone who try take them from me” this wasn't her murderous tone, wasn't a threat either, didn't even have killing intent behind it... it was just a fact.

“I'm sure ya will keep ‘em safe old gal” he didn't want to act on that promise… it was treason… who knows who he would have to dust to keep a surface spawn safe... his brother could have serious problems if the word got out “really safe on yer cozy house”

“I will!” She sounded so proud it pained him “I already have most of the books necessary for their education and I’m teaching them to cook and sew as well”

“good, good” he got up, he needed air “I have to go old gal, keep babying the little runts, will ya”

“I certainly will”

He walked away, another human was not what he was expecting, not for another decade

“And friend”

He stopped, anxiety clawing its way into his ribcage.

“Thank you”.

She knew.

He couldn't take it, teleported to Grillby's. It was still the middle of his shift, he grabbed his ribs on reflex of the phantom pain, Boss would be pissed, but he **really** needed a drink.


	11. Who is there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
23,805 down 52,337 to go

<del>Step one eat the whole pie</del>

Step two take care of Mother (A laugh a day) In progress

-> <del>Bath (Too yellow) Bleaching (Maybe?) Spiders</del> worked

-> <del>Sewing clothes (Can you even?) </del> Hell yeah

-> **Pie** => Get cinnamon (Where?) ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

-> <del>Tidy the house</del> (Doesn’t count)

-> Fix her relations with other monsters (especially Flowey) :-)

Step <del>two</del> 3 gather materials => <del>Boot, Toy</del>, Ribbon (on inventory)

Step <del>three</del> 4 go to ‘icy place’

-> Warm clothing => 3 sweaters

-> Enough food => Candy, Pie (in progress), Cookies, Donut, Cider

-> Decent shoes => <del>Combat boot (Not found)</del> Lots of socks (That seems like a smart idea) PS: Sarcasm don’t translate well on text (Find better alternative)

-> <del>Big blanket</del>

Step <del>four</del> 5 befriend the hell out of monsters

-> <del>Ruins</del> (except the ghost)

-> Icy place

-> Watery place?

-> Fiery place?

-> Earthly place?

-> Windy place?

Step <del>five</del> 6 break the barrier => ??? => Profit!

They eyed the list proudly.

Finally.

She was happy.

Their mother was finally happy.

She had even started to go out with them to play with the other monsters.

The little Froggits that before ran from her as if their life depended on it, now approached her for candies. The Whimsuns that were hidden now walked along the path carelessly. After almost three months of hard work, the Ruins were full of life.

They looked from their sleeping brother to the shining star, untangling their arm from the sheets they extended it in a grabbing motion, letting themselves wash on the feeling.

* Knowing that tomorrow you will leave the Ruins, fills you with Determination.

They let the feeling sink in, their soul agitated on their chest. They didn’t sleep that night, they had tried for hours, until the house got quiet, until they could hear nothing but the soft sound of their brother breathing, until they saw faint lights below the door.

So quietly they got up.

Walking to the mirror, they took a good look at themselves.

Their skin, burned by the sun, attested they were from the surface, not that any monster would realize it. They had a common face, they didn’t thought of themselves as beautiful, but had to admit they were not ugly either… just average, and that was good enough, outside didn’t matter anyway.

Their hair was brown and short, Mom had it cut, so it wouldn’t get into their eyes. And their eyes…

With their fingers they held their eyes wide open, approaching the mirror to get a better view. In photographs it always appeared that they were with their eyes closed, truth was, too much light used to hurt them, so they got used to squinting, but seeing them in the mirror like that, yep, they were brown without a doubt.

Light, almost amber, but brown.

* It’s you!

Yes it was.

And they still had one last thing to do today.

“Good morning, child” They greeted Mom with a smile and a big hug.

“I have a favor to ask you” they said, holding the flask expectantly.

When she got over her surprise, they went to the kitchen, and started baking. Mom was an amazing teacher, but even if she taught them a thousand times, it was always better when she was the one cooking it.

The smell of butterscotch cinnamon pie filled the house, attracting their brother. It was obvious to him which pie was made by whom, it was a silly thing to ask him, but mom laughed at their dejected face when he obviously chose her pie to eat instead of theirs.

All of them ended up eating her pie together, and it was as good as they remembered. For the whole lunch he ate the pie, without even a single mean remark, she was happy, their brother was happy, they were happy.

“Exploring today again?” She asked.

“Don’t think so” she looked quizzically at them, it was the first time they had a negative answer, he looked surprised too, but didn’t comment.

“Something wrong?” She had the concerned expression again, the one they hadn’t seen in weeks.

“I have big plans for today” they quickly added, the less she had that expression on her face the better “You can just follow your routine, I’m going to be fine” they wanted to remember this as a good day.

In a moment her troubled expression was gone, a bit more and she herself had vanished to somewhere, they had a faint recollection of where.

“No nightmares tonight?” Asked Flowey from the boot, bringing them back to the present moment “That it’s a first” he was using his vines to eat the last crumbs of pie

“You could say that” time seemed to linger, when they got up from the chair it would be it. No going back.

They felt his eyes on them, studying their face carefully “Why are we not going out today?”

“We are” said distracted, seated still.

“You lied to her?” he screeched, like he was offended by the idea.

“Of course not” retorted raising their voice, they would never lie to Mom! He should know that by now.

He let them be for a few moments “Then we are going out, just not exploring…”

“Yep” It would be much more intense than just explore the Ruins.

“I hate when you get like this” that made them look at him, if only to watch his reaction to their next sentence.

“I can live with that” He hissed threateningly, but the small crumbs falling from his mouth made it hilarious, they couldn’t avoid laughing while he mumbled something “what was that?”

“Nothing” said grumpy, they could swear it was something along the lines of ‘stupid human’.

“~I’m telling Mom~” they teased.

“I didn’t say anything!” his whole demeanor changed when she was on the picture.

“You did!” it was so amusing.

“I didn’t!” he was too cute.

“Ok, sooo” but it was time “I don’t tell Mom **if**” they put a finger on their cheek, like if they were thinking about it “you give me the knife above the shelf” his confused face lasted only for a second.

“Sure” with distrust he went to the kitchen.

It didn’t matter.

They breathed in and out.

This was it.

They eyed the pie tray in front of them, they would carry this memory close to their heart. Beside the empty tray was the pie they had made, the size of the pie didn’t intimidated them at all, so they put it on their inventory before they got up, going to their room, picking the few extra clothes they had separated for the travel.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Bidding the room goodbye, trying to calm their lungs, they went for the stairs.

“Here” but Flowey was just behind the door, holding the knife with his vines “Will you finally throw away the stick and equip something useful?” they grabbed the knife a little too eager.

“Nope” the shape on their hand was familiar, it had a nice weight to it “in a real fight a knife can hurt someone pretty bad” they could breathe again.

“That’s the intention!” It never was.

“Nope!” They put the knife on their inventory, grabbing the boot on a quick movement and running down the stairs.

They barely felt his vines grabbing their arms, trying to maintain his balance, they ignored his protests, while walking down the long hall below the house, they didn’t want to leave, but it was necessary. So they ran.

“My child!” Her voice sounded from the end of the halls, and right there, just around the corner, they saw her “This is a dangerous place to explore” she was surprised by their presence, uneasiness clear on her smile “You should play upstairs instead!” she tried to take their hand, but they stepped back before she could.

“I already saw all there is to see up there” they held the boot close to themselves, Flowey unusually quiet “This is the only place I haven’t gone yet”

“It is drafty here, no place for children” she still said gentle “Go upstairs or you will catch a cold” they missed her already.

“You taught me that somewhere on the end of the ruins, there is the one way exit to the rest of the underground” it wasn’t time to be sentimental.

“History, you learned it well” breathless she continued “And next semester I will teach you about the other regions of the underground and all its peculiarities!” voice wavering on the end.

“The exit is here, isn’t it?” they didn’t looked at her face, they didn’t want remember what expression she made when heartbroken.

“Now now, be a good child and go upstairs” Surprisingly, she didn’t sound sad.

“I need to get to the barrier” she flinched hard at this, they could see from the way her robe shook and hands tensed, she quickly turned her back to them, maybe she didn’t wanted to face them either.

“You are a good student” her voice was void of warmth “The barrier is ahead, yes, but what is in between the Ruins and the Barrier?”

A little taken aback for her question they tried to understand her line of thinking “The underground?” was this the answer she was seeking?

“Yes… the **whole underground**…” she started walking towards the end of the corridor, they followed close “And what is the underground filled with?”

“Monsters” they understood where this was going.

“Monsters seeking a human soul” her posture was regal “Why is that?” she seemed to be a lot taller all of sudden.

“Because the king ordered them to” at the mention she stopped walking, turning slowly towards them.

They could see the door ahead, it was purple and had several inscriptions on it, there was a small book and a pen resting beside it.

But right in front of them was she. A two and a half meter Boss monster, staring at them with the coldest red eyes they ever saw.

“This is your final warning” her voice was just as piercing “You are not the first. Every human that falls here meets the same fate. They come. They leave. They die.”

She was sullen, they remained silent, but had half of a mind to put boot with the trembling flower on the ground.

“Do you want to leave so badly?” her voice rose on the corridor.

They met his eyes giving a reassuring smile, then turned back to her.

“You are just like the others. You will die just like them!”

They finally met her eyes. Determined.

She was angry.

Her magic burning wild around her, in successive waves of increasing heat.

“Then prove yourself” While her voice carved the words, as cold as ice.

They felt their soul aggressively being pulled to a fight, her powerful presence suffocating any trace of magic, a warning to the fools that dared to face her.

“Prove to me you are strong enough to survive!”


	12. Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
24,794 down 53,305 to go

The smell of charred hair. Everything else was a blurred agonizing feeling, but the smell was precisely clear.

Long after the flames died, when their lungs couldn’t scream any louder and their limbs couldn’t move more than curling on a fetal position, the smell lingered, like it was burned in their nostrils.

“Hush hush”

They only knew they were still moving when she hugged them, their small body trembling on her fuzzy arms.

“It’s alright my child” 

The fire, the pain, their screams.

“It’s just a nightmare”

The shining star illuminating their bedroom.

“You are safe here”

Her warm voice calming their small whimpers.

“Your mother is here”

They tentatively took a big gulp of air. It came free of any trace of smoke.

“Hush hush” she drew small circles on their back, warm, but not burning, familiar…

They tried to apologize for waking her again, but apparently it was too much for their throat, starting a coughing fit that left them breathless.

She was there whispering encouragements the whole time, sitting on their bed, holding them protectively on her lap, using green to heal them.

They gave up talking and breathed deeply, focusing in how her arms were fluffy and soft, then on the bright star beside their bed and how it casted a shadow on the wall, on the form of their silent brother.

“Flowey, would you hold your sibling’s hand?” only when she asked they realized they were doing grabbing motions with their hands.

“Whatever” he sounded tired, just like in every other night, but his vines held their hand firmly despite his avoiding eyes.

“See child? We are all here with you” she cooed softly.

They knew they wouldn’t be able to sleep again, but just staying like that was so appealing right now…

“You are safe here” maybe they could pretend to fall asleep… maybe they could be held just a little longer...

They were right.

She went from calmly whispering to softly singing, then just quietly petting their head.

Then, after what they supposed were a couple of hours, she carefully put them back on their bed, tucked them in, placed a kiss on their forehead and left.

They didn’t ask her to come back, or moved at all, just enjoyed laying down on their comfy bed.

“Tomorrow we leave the ruins” they stated quietly, more to themselves than to anyone else.

“You really are an idiot” still he replied, maybe they should have discussed it with him, they would do it tomorrow, now they were doing absolutely nothing until the sunrise.

Morning came, they separated the clothes they would use later and picked the cinnamon flask under the bed. It went just like yesterday, she haply teaching them how to make pie.

He on the other hand, seemed to be sulking the whole morning, when it came to the choice of which pie to pick, they saw their mother giving him a pleading look, he rolled his eyes and chose their pie to eat instead of hers, she must have thought they could use the confidence boost, they didn’t failed to deliver the expected surprise and happy reaction.

Ok, maybe they **were** a little happy that their family was going to eat food they made, but knowing what came next was distracting them from any genuine pleasure.

“Exploring today again?” Her voice brought them back to reality.

“Nope” she looked concerned so they quickly added “I have other plans, you can just follow your routine, I’m going to be fine” they waited until she vanished to talk to the Flower, he hadn’t directed his eyes to them for the whole morning.

“Why?” but he bit them to it “Don’t you like it here?” maybe 3 months were too much for him “ ‘She is happy’ ” said changing his voice, mimicking their tone perfectly “Isn’t that what you said you wanted?”

The guilt of abandoning her threatened to claim them, but they had to be strong, it would just be for a little while, then she would be free.

“She won’t let you pass” he continued.

“I know what I’m doing” he met their eyes, accusation written all over them “Its ok, I’ve done it before”

“No you haven’t” he murmured, going back to play with the pie crumbs.

“Watch me” They knew how to go past her, dying had been just a miscalculation.

“If you leave you will have to kill people”

“Nope”

“It’s not a choice, stupid!” a vine bashed the empty pie tray.

He was angry enough to forget their rule, they were inside the house, he couldn’t call them that, they could call mother over it, but it didn’t felt right…

“If you leave the ruins you will **have** to kill! Because you will have to be strong to survive!” the way he said it, it wasn’t like before “If you were stronger, like **she is** you could choose not to fight” it sounded more like a plea for them to stay “but you are weak and dumb! You are not strong enough! You will **have** to kill or you be stuck and die!”

“You are right” they said to calm him “I’m not strong enough, I’m weak and don’t think things all the way through most of the times” they looked at him in the eyes “but” they had his full attention “I promised to break the barrier without killing any monster, and that’s what I am going to do” they climbed the counter, jumping on the shelf to grab the knife “or I’ll die trying” they grabbed the boot, put her pie on their inventory and picked the rest of their things from under the bed.

Thinking about it, ‘And keep dying while trying’ would be a more accurate sentence, but it didn’t sound as cool… and now that he was being carried silently, correcting their sentence would spoil the mood.

Focus!

They had a fight to win.


	13. Mother who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
26,234 down 54,764 to go

“Prove to me you are strong enough to survive!”

They felt themselves aggressively being pulled into a fight.

* Toriel blocks the way!

The strong vibration on her soul nullified any other sound in the room, they could see the world turning black and white, and at the same time shining with brighter colors, like their perception had been split into two windows.

In one, the world around had disappeared, there was nothing more than the encounter, the adversary standing against them, no colors to be seen, except four yellow options at a hand’s reach and a red soul floating ahead, ready for battle.

In the other, they could feel their feet preparing to run and dodge, their tense shoulders moving at each breath, they could see yellow fire illuminating the narrow corridor and her purple robe swinging with each new flame that danced too close, her red eyes illuminated with rage and a little brown boot casted safely aside.

But the music… the music could be heard from both perspectives. And in both it was heart breaking.

* Toriel – ATK 80 DEF 80

* Knows best for you.

They couldn’t avoid checking her, she was as strong as they supposed. And she wasted no time with pleasantries.

The fire came in waves, and they urged their feet to move, two streams of fireballs flied crossing each other, engulfing almost all the width of the corridor. They dodged between the gaps, where the streams had less fireballs, getting close to one of the walls.

* Toriel prepares a magical attack.

Pressing the mercy button, it was her turn again. Their intent was enough to make the fight progress fluidly.

With a few hand movements bigger balls of raging fire appeared floating around her, and a sweep of her paw shoot them all in their direction, bouncing at the walls, the attack was stronger than before, and it appeared to follow them, despite their dodging skills, pain blossomed on their leg.

After the worse of the attack a quick look showed the white numbers over the black background. HP 35/20. Luckily they were both well rested **and** well fed.

* Toriel takes a deep breath.

One button, and was again her turn.

New waves of fire went through the hall, this time several flew really close to the walls, not allowing them the same safe spot, they had to dodge between the gaps constantly, jumping to their sides, the walls were full of them, they couldn’t avoid another blow, taking more 4 damage on their HP.

* Toriel looks through you.

Their brother was silent, as were they and their mother. The ACT button was alluring, but there was nothing to be said, so again, they just spared her.

New streams of fireballs, too thick to dodge, forming a helix, their only chance was to keep themselves carefully in between them, it was too quick to pass through, but they were not careful enough, and now their HP was void of the bonuses they were counting on.

“What you think you are proving?” Her cold voice surprised them, with both of her paws new waves of magic burned through the air. Despite the new damage, they stood strong on their decision. 

*MERCY

*Spare

“Attack or run away” The helix of fire brightened the hall, it was impossible to see from where the attack was coming, it was all burning blinding light. It shot pain through their limbs and exposed skin every time they were hit.

If it wasn’t for the vision of the red heart and the cartoonish fire on the black and white board, they would have taken fatal damage.

*MERCY

*Spare

“Sparing me won’t save you” But she was wrong. Sparing was the only option.

*MERCY

*Spare

“Fight me or leave” And they would keep sparing her.

*MERCY

*Spare

“Stop it” Even if being hit was painful.

*MERCY

*Spare

“I won’t let you leave” Even if being burned was agonizing.

*MERCY

*Spare

“Go back” Even if dying by her hands was terrifying in ways that torn their soul apart.

*MERCY

*Spare

The possibility of failure…

*MERCY

*Spare

Was **the scariest thing** they ever felt.

*MERCY

*Spare

“I know you want to go but…” Her soft voice broke pattern that had been established on the last turns, the music of her soul getting so weak they could barely hear it “Please stop fighting now” a slowed, sadder melody following her words “I don’t want to kill you” Her red eyes were illuminated by the wavering orange “You won’t survive another blow”

They had nothing to say, their intent to spare her was enough to let her know.

“And I can’t let you leave either” she motioned her hands “He will kill you… and then all humans” but they were trembling too hard “Man, woman and children alike…” her voice carried a heavy weight “Please…”

It hurt see her that way. They could feel the truth of her words on the way her intent manifested through her magic.

“I promise I will take good care of you” and she knew they believed her words with all their soul “We can have a good life here” but she also knew it wasn’t enough to make them stay “Why are you making this so difficult?”

They wanted to run to her and give her a hug, to tell her about their plan and how she would be happy if she just waited a little longer.

“Ha ha…” She shook with her whole body “Pathetic” falling on her knees “I cannot save” tears running free “even” they wanted to comfort her “a single” but they couldn’t “child” because that’s how they died last time.

In the blink of her eyes, all the flames floating around started to spin, the attack grew faster and more intense, the whole hall was covered in raging fire.

There it was.

This vortex that killed them last time.

Strange, displaced, but not unfamiliar, it just didn’t belong here.

The four waves of small fireballs curved themselves in a double helix pattern, it was stronger near her, and weaker and sparse near the beginning of the hall, all accompanied by a hot wind, like the flames were physically pushing them to go back to the house.

Stubbornness and low HP had led to a pretty bad outcome, they could feel the heat on their hair, the memory of the smell taunted them, their arms ached from the burns they might get if caught again between the flames, the Faded Ribbon doing nothing to shield the attacks.

They ate the Candy on their inventory, if only to gain a little more health before their next move.

The waves were stronger, but they had to get to her.

The fire touched their limbs in painful scratches, they covered their face, where the skin was more sensible, it felt like jumping straight into a camping fire.

Here, near the source it was so much more suffocating, they couldn’t possibly avoid a fireball hitting them in the face, there was no time to dodge, so they just blocked with their right arm, their HP dropping to 1 and physically burning their skin.

But they didn’t have time to waste on the white pain blossoming on their hand or on the steaming air clawing at their lungs.

They were hit.

As a muscle reflex, they sprinted ahead. In any other situation they would be killed by the several fireballs still in the way.

But they had **just** been hit.

And they had a small window where they **had** to get past the attacks.

A small frame, between her attack hitting them, and the magic signature that it carried fading on the battlefield. In this little time window, when her magic signature was already causing them damage, no other of her attacks could also hit.

For half of a second, they were invincible.

They didn’t think.

Feet carrying them past the deadly embers.

They didn’t know how they knew this, it wasn’t important.

One thing was important.

She was suffering.

Wailing for them to turn around, unwilling to let another be killed, blindly striking anything that got too close, just for the fact that she was too kind to aim, too motherly to harm any child on her sight.

She has there on her knees, face hidden on her hands, tears glistening in the dancing flames. Blind to the world around her. She was the strongest and the weakest they ever saw her, at the same time.

Crossing the line of fire, they hugged her as tightly as they could.

And the flames calmed, cooling the air into a warm embrace.


	14. Mother Knows Best For You.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
29,043 down 54,231 to go

He didn’t feel anything.

For so long he just let the time pass, watching from the sidelines as the monsters dusted each other.

He had given up.

Weak monsters couldn’t be saved.

In this world only stronger monsters still had a chance.

Toriel.

She was never going to be killed, she was too strong, but sometimes he missed the times when she wasn’t.

When she was just his mother… not the ruthless queen of the ruins.

And he had that back!

Even if just for a few months…

Now she turned back to murderous, and it was **all their ** fault.

Weren’t they happy living with her? It was all an act? He scoffed at that. They were too weird sometimes, but he knew when someone was emulating fake emotions. He was the master of it.

So he held their hand when she asked. Dying by fire was horrible, he had felt it in his own leaves a few times, no wonder they were so shaken.

But they were stupid enough to do it all over again, like nothing had happened…

He made a point to choose their pie instead of hers, just to prove them that things would change. That if they kept being so stupid, they would **never** eat her pie, **ever** again!

But they faked a smile to appease her and grabbed their things like it was nothing.

And if he was going to be honest, for a second he was a bit wary of the way they snatched that knife.

But he didn’t feet anything.

They could keep being stupid, and she could keep killing them as far as he was concerned.

And on the off chance they killed her, they would go crying back to him certainly, and he would teach them how to reset.

As long as he didn’t die he didn’t care.

They could try as many times they wanted.

They could repeat this same day for years and he wouldn’t give a damn!

…

Except that they didn’t repeat anything.

They fought and they won.

It took them two tries to defeat her.

Maybe he was wrong then…

When she hid her face and attacked everywhere he thought she was being strong, keeping her word of not letting them pass.

But maybe she was being weak? Maybe she was still too kind, even if they were leaving her?

“I’m going to be ok, mom” he heard their soft voice, almost drowned by her wails “I’m strong enough, see?” she in her knees, with her head held low, was about the same height of the human standing.

“Oh child, I’m so sorry” they hugged her neck and she held their back, as the fire died down.

It was moving.

If he had any emotions left he could shed a tear.

“Plus, I have Flowey to watch my back” she laughed a little, there wasn’t much he could do to protect someone so stubborn like them… but at least they were immortal, so they had enough time to learn how things worked out there.

She lifted her head, putting her chin on their shoulder “You will guide them, will you not?” it was the first time she acknowledged him since the start of the fight.

“I guess…” he used his vines to approach, she extended a hand to help him come closer, one that he gladly accepted, the ground was still hot from her magic, and she could easily lift him above their shoulder “Someone have to put some sense in this empty head” he gave a few knocks on their head making them giggle, now the three of them were a big hug pile “Besides…” like a real family “That’s what big brothers are for” he didn’t want to compare, but they–/

“I’m the big sibling!” they interrupted, he shoot them an offended look “You are the baby brother” they had to be kidding!

“I’m older!”

“Nope, I am”

“No you’re not!” he knew was older! For all the resets, he was way older than 14!

“And you are waaay smaller”

“That’s cause I’m a flower!”

“And I have to carry you, this earn you some baby points”

“No it doesn’t” How could they think for a single moment that they were older than him? And with that attitude! The gall of some people!

“The boot holding, does give you an infant look” No! not Mom too!

“I don’t need to be carried!” he trashed in their hold “This boot was your stupid idea”

“Don’t try to escape the truth” now they had that weird serious voice “It’s definitive, Flowey” he was the older one! “You are baby”

“Nooo” his frustration only made his mother laugh louder.

Her voice softened the sting of being declared the little brother, but just a bit.

He was **not** a baby!

The three of them stood like there for a couple of minutes, before she clean her throat, it was like dispelling an enchantment.

He got his vines fully inside the boot.

They tied their own shoes… weirdly… with a horrendous amount of socks, walking on it looked uncomfortable, how did they dodge at all?

“If you truly wish to leave the Ruins” her voice snapped his attention back to her, she was back to her full height, sullen with a sad smile on her face “I will not stop you anymore”

They breathed loudly on his petals, he shifted out of the way as best he could, but they were holding the boot firmly, so there was not much room for that.

“However, when you leave, please do not come back” Wait, was she serious? She was expulsing them forever? “Keep going forward, children, do not let anyone stop you” she looked him in the eyes “they will not be kind”.

Right… it was better if they didn’t waste any time getting to the barrier, every day they wasted would be one more monster trying to steal his sib – **their** soul, the human’s, Frisk’s, the idiot’s, whatever.

“I believe this is goodbye then” If they answered he didn’t hear it.

He was hating this.

He hated all of this.

His boot was lifted all of a sudden, he used his vines to balance himself, and then he realized her face was close “And you” way too close “I’m counting on you” she kissed him on the cheek.

“Mooom!” the moment he heard himself whine he hid his face on his leaves, it wasn’t enough she kissing him like she used to? Why did he had to make a fool of himself?

“I’ll miss you, my child” he could hear the mirth on her voice… And he had been so careful not to call her that until now…

Retreating totally to the boot, he refused to move “Whatever!” shouted angrily, as he avoided to think. By the way the boot shifted, they were holding him now.

“And you” her voice upwards, he should be near their chest, and she talking to their face “you… foolish one” her voice breaking with emotion made him curious enough to take a peek “do **not** get killed” she was smiling, it was forced, but no new tears “promise me”

They nodded.

“I mean it, child!”

Her desperate tone was more familiar to him than the sad one.

“Do whatever it takes”

On her sad days she used to be silent, while on some of the desperate days she was a lot more vocal.

“And listen to your brother!”

He wondered which of the two she would revert to once they left.

“If he tells you to run, hide or fight. You shall do it”

Part of him didn’t want to find out, but curiosity always won.

“And if you have to kill, do not hesitate. You can be sad about it later”

“I can’t promise that”

“You must!” She shook them, as if she could change the mind of that stubborn idiot “Please” she pressed her snout to their forehead “Have mercy on this old soul of mine”

They took a deep breath. Then hug her with all the strength their human arms could muster.

He would be complaining about being crushed in between them later, now he would let them have their goodbye.

“I promise you, Mom” they whispered in her ear “I’ll go all the way to the barrier, you’ll see” their voice was full of emotions, not the fake ones this time, he could tell “And I won’t let **anything** stop me, no matter what!” not promising not dying, they knew what they were doing… probably… “Mother” their voice broke, and he shivered a little, maybe it was all that emotion surrounding him, it should be messing with the environmental magic his roots fed on “I promise…” It had nothing to do with the way their voice clawed in their throat, as if it was painful for them to talk “I will bring you the stars”

Then ran to the door without looking back.

Not a chance to say another word.

It was kind of selfish of them.

What if he wanted to say something else?

Not that he had anything to say, but they could have asked…

He looked past their shoulder, and watched as she got smaller and smaller on the hall behind them. She gave them a last wave, he waved one of his leaves, but doubted she could see.

They shook him so much while were running, there was no way she saw his reply. They were stupid, it was like they weren’t looking where they stepped on and got all jumbly on the legs.

They ran like that until they got to the other door on the end of the corridor.

This time he was using his vines to hold into their torso and have a bit more of stability.

“Here it is” their voice was back to stupid happy “The exit of the Ruins”

“Why didn’t you run past it?” of course they had to stop now, that he was already secure with his vines... always giving him trouble.

“It’s cold outside” they put the boot on the ground

“It’s about to get a lot colder” he complained.

“That’s why” they took ball of sheets from their inventory “I’ll be prepared”. Two more stripped shirts.

They were already wearing the purple and white Mom had got them, and now they were holding two more… one was the same blue and pink they were wearing when he found them…

And the other…

They put the green and yellow shirt above their current one.

It would make them warmer.

But he didn’t know if he liked them wearing that.

“Why do you ask?” they extended a hand to him, and he pulled himself to place with his vines “did you think I was getting _cold feet_?”

Holding onto the old shirt was a bit odd, but not as bad or as good as he thought it would be anyway “I know you didn’t, you are too stupid for that” it was just a big nothing… a big boring nothing “I just…” they were looking at him with an expectant goofy smile…

Did they…

The smile only grew.

Definitely!

He wouldn’t go down to their level “I refuse to answer to that” they laughed anyway, grabbing the next shirt “What are you doing?” they didn’t stop, putting their arms in the shirt “Why did you tell me to climb you if you were still getting dressed?” he started to retract his roots, they were so annoying.

But they stopped his attempt with one hand “So you could stay below one of the shirts”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because two would be warmer, but too tight. One it’s safe and still warm” they finished putting the blue and pink sweater over his head “Don’t think I don’t know what cold do to flower’s petals” said holding the collar to look down at him.

“Whatever” His petals were bad, he knew that, but it was the best he could do, at least he had all of them, on one of the other timeline he didn’t had half of it.

They moved a bit more, he had no control over their actions in that position. Between the two pieces of clothing and with his vines tying the boot to their torso, he had no vision and no chance to move, if they at least were holding the boot he could… by the way…

“Why aren’t you holding the boot?” they always held him, no matter how many times he insisted he didn’t need their help.

“I thought you – how did you say?” they changed their voice to a higher pinch “Don’t need the help of a stupid human with stupid twigs for arms” they did a horrible imitation.

“And since when do you care about what I say?” he felt them tensing.

“I care, Flowey” by the way blue and pink illuminated his hiding place, and that the cold started to seep from the outside, he knew they had just stepped out of the ruins and into the forest “I do”

“Then equip the knife you stole” he adjusted himself to face forward, if he pressed face onto the fabric and squinted, he could see the outline of the Snowdin forest between the threads “So?”

“No” he almost missed their voice from the weakness of it, but was expecting the negative, anyway.

“See, you don’t care” he saw their hands clench and unclench, one of them seemed to be darker than usual, maybe ash from the fight... For someone so stubborn, they were incredibly easily to emotionally manipulate.

“I **do**” but guilt was an easy one to get from them, so was happiness and curiosity, he had yet to unlock their rage. He knew it was there, he had saw a few glimpses in their eyes “All I do is ‘cause I care, Flowey” Annoyance was an easy one too.

“Prove it” He challenged them.

After annoyance, the next one should be anger, but every time they were about to get angry, they got determined instead. It made a little sense, anger and determination were both shades of red, but at the same time it was weird seeing someone that never got enraged no matter how much he tried.

A blinding light shone through the fabric, that’s how he knew they had created a new save point.

“I’m going to break the barrier and set all the monsters free” every time with the same yada yada… “**because** I care” they were lucky he was helping them, if it didn’t occur to their narrow mind to make a save after a fight like that, they needed him, **really** needed him “Because that’s all that matters to me”.

“Whatever” They saved, everything after that was a waste of time “If you’re going unarmed we have to get out of here as fast as we can”

“I have my stick” despite the stupid comment, they started walking, he would glare at them, but they weren’t looking down, and he was already using his vines to support himself, since they decided not to hold the boot with their, probably injured, hand. Humans were weird, she had healed them to full HP, but their weird material body was still burned. Monsters were more transparent in that matter, HP only got full when their bodies were completely healed.

“If you will defend yourself using only plants” they snickered at that, at least the wound was small enough to ignore, he continued “at least use that one” he could see a piece of wood on the middle of the path.

Only after they approached it, he could see it was too big for them to carry, being inside the sweater was not good for his sight. Not that he cared so much, one thing they got right, it was warm.

They actually tried to pick it up, how stupid.

Making a displeased sign, they walked over it.

It didn’t even broke under their full weight.

Saying that he was completely against his lack of control over the situation was a lie.

He was going to visit Snowdin without freezing his roots, that was a new one. And that way his petals were safe from the wind too! And they were warm and soft, he was almost comfortable.

That until something broke. The loud sound echoing on the forest.

“Not a peep!” he commanded whispering. They walked faster, but were silent.

He was going to move his vines to get above the shirt and prepare a defense.

But he didn’t.

He couldn’t get out of the shirt.

He wasn’t moving, and neither were they.

He had felt this before in past resets.

The cold, calculating, intent was never followed by an easy encounter.

“human” And he knew that voice…

At least they had saved their progress.


	15. don’t you know how to greet a new pal?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
31,470 down 56,584 to go

They could hardly contain their pounding soul, it was overflowing with sheer happiness. They knew they would find him here, and that he could help them.

They didn’t wait any longer, turning quickly to shake the hand of their old friend.

However, at the first touch all their muscles jolted by the electrified grip.

The last thing they heard was a gruff laugh.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  131400:43                              Timeline 4 end.

“Did I” They were back at the door, it had been too fast to be painful, but they could still feel the electricity lingering on their fingertips “D-did I… died?”

“I thought you would be used to it by now” he said like it didn’t matter, like he expected this to happen.

“But... I didn’t...” didn’t he understood what that meant? A steadying look at their dust-free hands was the only thing providing them enough strength to continue talking “I didn’t kill anyone”

They were shaking, they could still feel the electricity running through their bodies, limbs trembling by fear of what came next, of what they had to inevitably face, of the ruthless judgment, of the undeniable truth.

“Why?” they weren’t in control of their lives “Why did Sans kill me?” they weren’t in control of anything “I didn’t” they couldn’t do this “I didn’t do anything, they…” teeth chattering, they recoiled in a little ball, bracing themselves for the unavoidable, hiding their faces from what was coming “they are alive I didn’t hurt anyone I didn’t hurt anyonedidnthurtanyonedidnthurtanyoneI’vebeengoodI’vebeengoodI’vebeengood”

Their body ached, piercing bones and giant blasters burning their skin and vines constricting their soul, and god, so many vines! Omega Flowey stood before them with the endless green swarming like a beehive, and there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and they were suffocating in their own blood in the golden hall bones breaking as they were repeatedly thrown against the marble pillars while a deep chuckle rumbled through the air, a piercing laugh while their muscles were pulled and skin ripped, splattering blood all over the golden tiles, reload after reload while they were a ragdoll before a soulless god, the god of hyperdeath, Asriel Dreemurr.

“It’s ok”

Azzy... They heard their brother’s voice and clung to it like a lifeline.

“I know it can be scary”

Too scared to open their eyes they tried to hug him, but recoiled when only found vines, moving their arms to shield their soul instead.

“I know **I** was scared”

Soft, thornless vines, holding them together.

“It’s ok, you are going to be ok”

Protecting them from the cold stormy wind.

“I’m here with you” And they finally had the courage to open their eyes.

They were sitting against the Ruins’ door, Flowey was hugging them the best he could with his thin leaves and delicate vines, in his face an understanding smile.

“Honestly I didn’t think you would last so long without breaking” his voice carried like he didn’t care, but it elected so much emotion from them “did you really believe those deaths on the Ruins were just nightmares?”

Being burned alive by their mom, killed on spot by their only hope, condemning their friends to their prison cell, after all those years of hard work... Seeing Flowey trying his best to comfort them. It was too much…

“Hey! stop crying, you idiot! He is gonna hear you!”

They tried, but it was just too much.

“You are too loud! Stop crying or you are on your own” They managed to cry a little less loudly, only hard sobs shaking their entire body instead.

Flowey made no move to leave so they gently tried enveloping the flower in a hug, he accepted without a word, repositioning his vines to better cover the child from the storming blizzard, they could afford another reload if it meant calming down, with time travel at disposal physical injuries were nothing, what really matter was mental health.

And now they just needed their brother…

When their heads stopped hurting, and they felt strong enough to think about it, they tried to understand their current situation.

Emphasis on tried.

Nothing made sense!

Sans was lazy, he would never make an effort to hunt humans.

More than that…he would never kill them on spot! They hadn’t hurt **anyone**, he wouldn’t kill an innocent…

Besides…

Sans couldn’t have killed them, he promised… he never promises, but he promised!

That... that could not be Sans... not their Sans...

“Not my universe” Was the first thing they said after the long silence.

“What?” he turned to them startled.

“Never here before” The more they followed that line of thinking, the more things they realized to be strangely odd…

“Oh, so now you believe me?” Their brother was proof enough, the first thing they noticed to be out of place, on the exact moment they met, but they had brushed it off as meaningless at the time.

“Thought...” that a true reset had wiped his memory “you had forgotten”

“I can see you know more than you should, I’m not blind” he was eyeing the path, like he was looking for something “but whatever you know or you see when you space out, it’s not real” he didn’t find anything, turning to them instead “I’ve told you. You’ve never been here before, I would remember”

“I’m sorry... sorry... for doubting you” Everything started to make sense, this was not their universe, they remembered Sans ranting about multiverse, the similarities and differences.

Maybe they were encountering some of those other versions of themselves?

The memory was fussier the more they tried to focus.

“Hey!” he shook them “Are you still there?”

“Yes... it’s just...” they needed to remember.

“Don’t go silent on me again”

“It’s... hard... to think” but they needed to know.

“Then try talking to me, just don’t go dead silent or start screaming like a lunatic”

“Sorry” they wouldn’t scream… the visions weren’t like the nightmares.

“You look like you are in pain” kinda.

“Need to remember” he seemed at ease now, maybe no one would come to them if they didn’t move.

“Remembering can be difficult after a reset”

Displeased, they mumbled under their breath.

“What did I said about going silent?” they weren’t silent… they were mumbling, that was not silence. He kept looking at them, expecting an answer.

“Reload” they conceded.

“What?”

“No resets... Reload” Resets were bad.

“Whatever”

“No more resets” they insisted.

“So, I don’t have to explain that difference, great” he said with false amiability in his voice “Anyway, remembering can be hard after a reset”

“Reload” they pronounced the word clearly and slow.

“Can you be less annoying? I’m trying to help!”

“Sorry” guilt crashed over them, he was… he was always helping them, and they never showed him gratitude.

“Is that so important?” he asked annoyed.

“Yes” But guilty as they were, they weren’t about to lie.

He just stared at them, displeasure written all over his face.

They remained silent.

“Look” he started calmer than before “I know there is a difference between continuing or going back” he moved his leaves to exemplify two different things “So you don’t want to go back, great!” he threw the leaves upwards as if throwing a table.

The mental image made them crack a smile.

“But I’ve been doing this my whole life, can’t you just pretend every time I say reset you hear reload?” he crossed his leaves in front of his stem “I have real problems to deal with, and playing with words is for little kids”

Yeah… just calling a reload… a reset… they could do that “Ok…”

“Good! So... What were you trying to remember?”

“The differences” They made an effort to elaborate, but the words just weren’t cooperating.

“What differences?” He was trying really hard to be supportive, but the uneasiness was still there, they were grateful for his patience either way.

It could be dangerous stay on the same spot for too long, they tried to understand, especially with sentries around, but they still weren’t ready to face the other Sans.

They took a deep breath, and another, and covered themselves a little better, warming their fingers with their breath, it was survival instinct kicking on, they were slowly getting a hold of themselves.

“The differences between what I remember and this world” there weren’t many but… “the Ruins were emptier when I went to the house”

“That was her path” he said simply “no smart monster stays in her way”

“They were afraid of her” in the beginning at least.

“She killed some monsters that disrespected her” that… was concerning…

“Mom was a little...” the image of the dust pie came to their mind, they pushed it aside, it was in another timeline, it never happened.

He took their delay as an invitation “Crazy?”

“Mad” they corrected.

“What did I say?”

“Not in crazy, more like... angry?”

“Everyone is angry” said angrily.

“Everyone?” It was a joke, right?

“Everyone!” that was impossible.

“Even...” blank.

They couldn’t remember, couldn’t remember any of their friends, name, face, hobby, what features differentiated them, all gone.

Just foggy silhouettes dancing on the void of nothingness.

“Hey!”

Suddenly Flowey was centimeters of their face, a vine firmly forcing them to make eye contact while their whole body trembled.

“No more of that, just keep talking to me” They wiped cold tears from their face.

“Everyone... is angry?” Words were difficult again “No one is... happy?” but they had to know.

“In this world it’s kill or be killed” that was familiar “they are happy if they survive the day”

“Even...” they tried harder.

“Whatever you are thinking, **don’t** stop talking” he commanded.

“Even...” they struggled not to go mute.

It was confusing, they could not remember a single thing, a single trait of their friends.

“That one?” wow… that was helpful…

“Witch one? Keep talking” they would, they just needed… time? Or something?

“The...” but nothing came to mind, the harder they focused, the more the memory slipped through their fingers “**That** one...” they were starting to get angry at themselves.

Flowey rolled their eyes “The one that killed you?”

“No” a spark of clarity “Yes! Sans...” they could work with that.

“He is definitely angry”

“No! Not Sans!” not him per se, just… there is a connection… what was it?

“You said Sans”

“Brother!” How did they forget that? “Sans’ brother” Of course he and Sans were brothers!

“… Papyrus?” asked looking apprehensive.

“**Thank you**!” but despite the face he was making, the relief of remembering that was so strong they could kiss him right now “Yes! Papyrus!”

Finally the name. The silhouette in their mind became a little bit more visible. Closer to Sans was another skeleton, taller and, something... a scarf? Yes this was Papyrus!

Relief washed over the child.

The Great Papyrus.

He was the one who healed their broken arm at the park, the one who accepted them with no judgment, the joyful and playful–/

“**Very** angry”

That… didn’t sound right… “Not… happy?” Really? if it was true it was the greater difference so far.

“No...” Flowey became pensive, they could see there was more to it than what he told, but decided to get back at the main problem.

“Thank you, Flowey” they felt calmer now, they could do this.

“Keep your ‘thank you’s to when we pass the bag of bones, we have to keep moving” But first they had to remember.

“Not yet” Going ahead blind was a bad idea.

“Why the hell not?” and they felt like there was a memory just right around the corner of their mind.

“Trust me” All they had to do was let themselves wander.

“Do I have a choice?” They closed their eyes.

They needed full concentration.

“Whatever. Just get on your feet before we both freeze”

Long breath, eyes closed, calm mind.

Not their universe. Not AgreementTale.

Another universe.

Remember Sans ranting about universes, his voice calm almost lulling them to sleep after a particular bad nightmare, helping them to keep focus.

“basically two kinds of universes, tales and fells, it’s not a rule, but you can sort it out by simple traits, fells are LV centered, fight first talk later”

The smell of hot chocolate.

“So, just like...?”

“yep, imagine a world entirely of sushi and you have your personal vision of hell”

Warmth, felt like something soft.

“Sans!”

Said in between laughs

“Stop shit talking her!”

“i _fish_ you not, kid! pointy teeth, lots or black and red, heavy armor, killing intent, sushi is a fell in tale’s _skin_. what? gonna say _udon_ know what i’m talking about? she can barely control her _tempura_, win most fights with _raw_ strength, i could keep the ball _roll_ing all night long, but you get the picture”

A familiar blue over white fading to blue over black.

The vision blurred with laugher, it warmed their soul and filled them with determination!

*--------------------*

“I’m ready” they said out of nowhere.

“Good” It was about time “We still have the skeleton problem” He had his head and vines poking through their collar, it still protected his petals from the wind, plus gave him free movement to attack.

“I know exactly what to do” said, getting up, like they hadn’t just spent half an hour curled into themselves like a baby.

“Really?” he doubted it.

They looked at his eyes and smiled confident, for a moment he swore he could see a bright red instead of the usual brown on their eyes.

They definitely didn’t look like the kid crying helpless just a few minutes ago, humans were weird.

But he liked the red more, it was familiar, his mother eye color and... just familiar... he really didn’t want it to mean more than that.

And by the way they walked straight ahead, they really had a plan.

He would follow their lead for now.


	16. turn around and shake my hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
34,318 down 60,192 to go

“human” now that they got here, whole body paralyzed by an invisible force in the narrow path, they were just **a bit** nervous.

Flowey coiled his vines around their torso, without moving the outside of the sweater, they had convinced him to let them lead this interaction, and stay still. He reluctantly accepted, but only when they assured him he was not going to be electrocuted again.

“turn ‘round ‘nd shake my hand” That was the cue, they were rehearsing the lines in their head during the whole path.

With the friendliest smile they could muster they turned to the offered left hand, raised their right hand and shook it from the back, successfully avoiding the hidden device on his palm.

The handshake was awkward, but before he had a chance to say anything or they had the chance to break character by not being able to contain their giddiness, they retreated their arm.

“Sorry, it’s that not how you shake hands down here?” Said with an innocent face “That must be a real _culture shock_” they tried to make the pun smooth, but couldn’t maintain a pokerface any longer and ended up having to hold in a chuckle while he just glared at them, still weary.

“ya must have a pretty good eye to see thru da old joy buzzer trick” his toothy grin was on place, but didn’t seem to be kind nor amused, the crack on his maxilla and that one weird colored teeth made it harder to concentrate on a proper retort.

“_Eye_ get that a lot” dismayed for the lack of reaction they improvised, still with no reaction, maybe this pun only worked when written? But… they knew he could see the difference… somehow? Or was that just wishful thinking?

“lots of humans try ta electrocute ya on the surface?” Maybe? Do not explain the pun, it is never fun if you have to explain it, just… go with the flow…

“_Shock_ingly yes” They improvised, again, gladly he seemed less wary this time. They swore to themselves they would improve their pun game, it appeared to be awfully rusty.

“heh, so the human enjoy puns? ain’t I a lucky guy?” He took the device out putting his hand on the pocket of his leather coat “name is Sans, Sans the skeleton” it seemed warm, with all the fur, plus the red sweater inside. The cold wind was stronger than they remembered, even with three shirts and lots of socks, their legs were still cold, not unbearable, though, they’ve been worse.

The skeleton was taller than them, but not by much, if they got on their tippy toes they would be the same size. But by his posture and his clothes, it seemed he was trying to appear bigger, so there was a slight chance of them offending him with that… And the red eyelights? It wasn’t the most forgiving colour.

“I’m actually supposed to turn the humans to the guard. but ya seem like a nice fella, so let me give ya some little advice, ‘right kid?”

He loomed over them, exhibiting his incredibly sharp teeth in a big wide grin, for the first time they realized that despite being almost the same height, he was much larger than them, maybe the clothes helped, but still, his posture… wasn’t the friendliest sight.

“nice gets ya killed” Empty eye sockets stared right through them, while his teeth moved slowly with each word, they felt cold running down their spine, acutely aware that, by the range his mouth stretched and appearance of his teeth, he could probably rip their face off with a single bite. For the sake of their composure, they buried this thought under several layers of denial.

“Oh, thank you for the advice” they wouldn’t let him intimidate them “But I believe being nice is the least I can do” they started to motion their hands, like explaining a hard concept “I mean, I do intend not to be killed on the process” Ok, maybe they were a bit intimidated “but when being nice costs me nothing, why not?” they shrugged, forgetting where to put their hands and hoping that he could understand the concept, Flowey certainly couldn’t.

He chuckled, kind of amused, if by their idea, or their inability on putting it into words, they didn’t know “won’t get far thinking like that, kid” relief washed over them, he had his eyelights back and looked a bit more approachable, and despite not agreeing with them, he didn’t outright try to make them change their mind, not like Flowey.

“That’s what I am trying to tell them!” Speaking of which, yellow petals bloomed from the collar of their sweater, obstructing their vision.

“I’m not killing anyone Flowey” they chastised him, trying to brush his head out of their way, that talk was getting old and they didn’t need him talking for them.

“You will end up getting killed!” But his outrage in their behalf was always endearing. So what if they got killed?

By the gaps between his petals they saw his shoulders shaking, attracting their full attention again.

“never thought I would have the Weed insisting on someone to kill, can’t picture that” what did he mean by that? Flowey didn’t shut up about that since day one…

“Good to see you too bag of bones” he greeted him like an old friend “I thought someone would have dusted you by now” well… maybe not so much like a friend after all.

“they can try” he looked at them, red eyelights back into place, rounder and much less aggressive “so ya taking care of the lady’s pet human?” their palms itched, that word didn’t sit right.

“I’m not a pet” he… this… fell monster seemed amused by their reaction, but at the same time happy to ignore them.

“They were the ones choosing to come here” and he was not the only one, they were going to protest, but he put a leaf on their mouth “Adults talking” Really Flowey? Closing their fists, they took a deep breath, since he was right on their face, the air ended up smelling like flowers, which was oddly calming.

“too bad, too bad, would have lived a long happy life being the old gal’s pet” ok, kiss that ‘calm’ goodbye.

“I’m not a pet!” They reiterated, but both Flowey and Fell ignored their indignation.

“see I may be too lazy to report ya” he said to no one in particular, despite obviously talking to them “but, if it were anyone else... like Boss...” his smile grew menacingly, and **now** he decided to address them “well, let’s just say if I were a human I wouldn’t be _dying_ to meet him”

Understanding he wanted a reaction out of them, they just smiled “Thank you for the advice” and turned around to inspect the gate.

“ya gonna turn yer back to me like that?” his voice was more surprised than angry.

“I’m sure there is some sort of way to pass through this” they spoke softly to themselves, the gate was narrow, with barbed wire intertwined with wood “It’s firm!” and incredibly well built, they put a foot in the wire and it hardly gave in.

“They have no common sense” Flowey said facing the skeleton at their back, they were too preoccupied with the challenge ahead to pay attention to the monsters “Don’t know how they even survived before we met” they climbed on the wire, being careful not to cut themselves. Seeing their struggle Flowey used his vines to help, they murmured a thanks and kept going “But considering they just fell into a giant hole in a mountain, it shouldn’t be that impressive” step after step, they successfully climbed the wire crossing the bridge, jumping safely to the other–/

They landed head first on something hard “brave kid, huh?” nursing their forehead, they looked to the skeleton in front of them, their brother looked to where he had been a moment ago and where he stood now, in a silent question, but didn’t say anything “but ya know, brave means shit if ya have nothing to back that up”

“I have mildly functional athletic skills, a high tolerance to bullshit and a wide range vocabulary, would that work?” That was a lie, they didn’t have a ‘wide range vocabulary’, just a big mouth, that didn’t know when to shut up.

He just sighed and shook his head, they could almost hear him thinking ‘this kid is going to get killed so many times’, not that he had time to voice that, as Flowey already was shouting on their ears “No, it makes it worse!”

Something else caught his attention “fuck” he muttered alarmed “Boss is here” before they knew they were being pushed out of the path to the tree line “hide”

Flowey got inside their sweater, vines tightly on their stomach, they crouched behind a tree, beside them there was a broken lamp, they thought of changing places, but mentally slapped themselves, a broken thing like that, it would obviously offer no cover.

On the distance they saw a glimpse of red and took a deep breath. They had cover, they had Flowey, they knew what was happening.

Papyrus, they remembered him, Sans’ brother. He was going to start complaining about something.

“sup, Boss” something sounded wrong, they didn’t know what it was, just knew it was wrong.

“SANS, YOU INSUFFERABLE WASTE OF SPACE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE YOUR–/” 

His shouting ceased, the noise being replaced by the soft sound of the cold wind blowing on the branches. The air got caught in their lungs when their body was surrounded by a blue light. Not a second later they were yanked from the trees.

“WHO DARE SNEAK ON THE ROYAL” Red eyelights stared at them “GUARD?” they tried to reach the ground, but it was too far away.

“they just a free-EXP, Boss” standing near his brother Sans was sweating, “probably tried to hide seeing how terrible ya are”

Floating above the ground, incapable of moving their body, they did the only thing they could think of, and waved slowly at the new skeleton “Hi”

“EXPLAIN” His face morphed quickly from surprise to suspicion to rage “RIGHT” on his left eye there was a nasty scar, it pained them just to look at it “NOW” his magic was wild around them, a promise of pain and death “WHY IS YOUR SOUL UPSIDE DOWN!?”

The so obvious question shocked them to silence “are ya sure Boss?” maybe it was the right response because Sans took a step forward, positioning himself between them and Papyrus “seems normal enough to me”

“KEEP YOUR DISTANCE SANS!” the taller pulled his brother away from them “HOW CAN YOU NOT NOTICE THAT THIS IS ONE OF OUR MOST DANGEROUS ENEMIES?” they saw silently how the loud skeleton stuffed his chest in pride “I THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS HAVE CAPTURED A HUMAN!”

“maybe ya just holding them upside down?” Sans tried, but he already looked defeated “those are the legs, see?” he poked at their arms, the scene would be comical if they weren’t aware of the killing intent on the air.

“NONSENSE! YOU MORONIC SLOB! I’M TAKING THIS HUMAN TO UNDYNE” This name was enough to shake them back to reality, this was not a show to be watched, it was happening with them, right now, and if they didn’t do something, they knew very well what would happen next.

“I’m definitely not an enemy” said a little breathless, putting their hands if front of them in an attempt to placate him.

“HA! YOU THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME WITH SUCH A PATHETIC LIE?” they could feel Flowey moving under their sweater, he had been hidden since Papyrus showed up, as they asked him to.

“But it’s true! I never hurt any monster” they said confident in their lack of LV to back them up. They tried to think in a better plan, but Flowey moved again, it was getting too distracting.

“AND YOU THINK THAT THIS DETAIL WOULD MAKE ME PITY YOUR EXISTENCE ENOUGH TO LET YOU GO?” he eyed them with disdain, that… that emotion didn’t sit well on his face at all! “YOU ARE A FOOLISH HUMAN”

“But–/” but he didn’t let them finish, with the wave of a finger, they had the wind knocked out of them again and were moving on the air, fast enough to match his steps, behind them Sans had to jog to keep up.

“ENOUGH TALKING! TO UNDYNE YOU GO” Flowey was starting to be an inconvenience moving so much, they were trying to think and his vines were a tad too scratchy.

“I thought we could” they winced as the vines compressed their stomach “maybe” blinking the memories away they continue “do some puzzles instead?”

“PUZZLES?” he stopped walking, a thorn pressed on their stomach, dammit Flowey, be quiet! Papyrus turned to them, and they forced the pain away, eyes a bit too watery for their taste “PUZZLES ARE FOR CAPTURING HUMANS WHY SHOULD I WASTE MY TIME WHEN YOU ARE ALREADY CAPTURED? IT WOULD MAKE NO–/” Papyrus stared at them for a moment, as if he was staring at a point in the air beyond them, another light shuffle interrupted their observation, if Flowey didn’t went quiet right now he would be discovered.

“Because it is your last chance to use them” they blurted to avert his attention of their moving sweater. He shot them an wrathful glare “I’m the last human to ever fall here, the puzzles will go to waste”

He didn’t say anything, just scowled.

“c’mon Boss, how many years went on calibrating those traps?” Sans caught up with them “ya never waste time like that”

That comment earned him the same hateful glare, they could see him burying himself on his coat “I was told puzzles are part of monster culture” he looked at them, the same red angry eyelights, they could feel under their skin the urge to run and hide, but they pressed on “I am sure you put great effort in yours” the look of a predator, that was what that was. The intent alone was intimidation, but he definitely had the power to fulfill the threat if he had to “And I would be honored if I could see them”

They thought the admittance was going to soften his features.

It didn’t.

Then gravity changed.

They fell feet first, but no balance, so ended up hitting their ass on the ground with a undignifying ‘ouch’, more out of surprise than anything else, thanks for the snow it hadn’t actually hurt.

“IT IS SETTLED” Papyrus waved a dismissive hand, while they got up to their feet “ALL THE TRAPS ON THIS AREA HAVE BEEN EXPERTLY COOKED TO PERFECTION, LETS SEE IN WHICH ONE YOU WILL FINALLY PERISH” crossing his arms he glanced at the path ahead, but they could feel his attention lingering on their movements.

“If I survive, is there a prize?” they patted the snow out of their clothes, careful not to jostle Flowey again.

He shot them a sour look, and they were starting to believe that this was his default expression “THE PRIZE IS NOT DYING” it might be, the scowl seemed to be imprinted on his face “SURVIVE THEM AND YOU WILL HAVE THE HONOR OF DYING BY MY HANDS”

“Like in a fair honourable fight?” they couldn’t not ask, it was bothering them, the gravity magic had been used outside of an encounter, the electroshock had gone as far as killing them without triggering one. It was a foreign and dangerous concept, if he just threw bones out of nowhere they would hardly have a chance.

“OF COURSE IT WILL BE A FAIR FIGHT!” Anger was still there, but little by little they could distinguish more emotions on his face, pride being a strong one “DO YOU THING I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS WOULD HAVE TO RESORT USING VILE TECHNIQUES TO DEFEAT A PITIFUL THING LIKE YOU?” he scoffed, Sans grinned, his posture more relaxed than before, it made them feel calmer in return.

“Then is settled” They could deal with that, it was simple and familiar “I will do my best to survive the puzzles and be rewarded with a fight with the great Papyrus!” They would befriend him in no time.

Tapping his sharp gloved fingers he grunted something undistinguishable while glaring at them “CONTINUE ONLY IF YOU DARE” then turned around and just started walking.

Sans stood where he was, smile in place, but something was off “if yer smart, yer gonna go back to where ya came from” he said the words slow and careful, like trying to spell out a threat to a particularly dumb human.

“It may be too late for that” they said pleadingly, all this uncalled aggression was making their head spin.

“STOP WASTING MY TIME, YOU USELESS RASCAL” Sans winced at the voice and followed quickly, leaving a troubled human behind.


	17. What do you call a careful wolf?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
37,543 down 59,347 to go

It had been a busy day, fighting Mother, being killed by Sans, realizing that this wasn’t their universe, meeting Papyrus, convincing him to give them a chance to prove themselves, realizing that if this was not their universe, that meant they hadn’t reset, but universe-hopped, that meant that they had no idea how they ended up here, no idea where or how their universe was…

They didn’t have the strength to think about this now.

Therefore, despite the lights on the cave ceiling being at their peak, a clear indicating of the middle of the day… they bid Flowey goodnight as soon as the brothers disappeared of their sight.

He yelled at them, of course, but they sheltered themselves on the sentry station, finding condiment bottles halved with ketchup, mustard and relish, pocketing them for later use, and just went to sleep right then and there.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, with a few bursts of their brother’s irritation, but eventually he grew tired of complaining to deaf ears.

The night came, and it was colder than they expected, but they refused to move. Magic snow wasn’t as dangerous as real snow, it carried the intent to getting you cold, but it froze at a higher temperature, so it didn’t have the same efficiency in stealing heat… not from beings with as many mass as humans, it would take about five times the effort to achieve the same result of a surface snowstorm.

But the cold...

It didn’t went away on the next morning, even as they ate the ketchup, even as they got up and started walking… maybe because it wasn’t the same kind of cold, this one came from the inside. They just didn’t want to think about it, but the more they avoided thinking the more one notion haunted their dreams.

Erased.

They shook their head, as if to dismiss the thought, but it refused.

Not their universe.

Another universe.

What about their universe?

Erased…

“Alright!” he shouted, they welcomed the distraction “Give me your hand already!”

“My hand?” their brother never failed to amuse them.

“Yes, your hand” said angrily “I don’t want to hold the boot all the way to Snowdin!”

“Alright” they held the boot with both hands, letting him move his vines freely and thought to themselves that must be it.

But soon after stretching, he took one of their hands in his vines, inspecting it.

Oh, he was talking about **that**.

With care he used green magic, passing his glowing leaves on the burn mark.

It was useless, it had already changed color, and Mother had already healed them after the fight, if she couldn’t do it, who he thought he was?

But they didn’t say anything.

If nothing, the green eased their troubled mind.

They were grateful for that.

‘And what do we say to that?’ Mother asked them with the most warm of smiles, beautiful in her bright new purple robe.

“Thank you, Flowey” it was good knowing they could count on their brother.

“Don’t thank me… It’s not working…” mumbled, increasing the green, suddenly they were in a much better mood.

“Well, it’s not hurting anymore” they said to appease him, holding the boot straighter.

They mostly walked in silence after that, avoiding the eventual trap, Flowey would proudly point it out before they could step on them. Metal and spikes most of them, it would easily break someone’s leg.

Soon they saw a crossroad, and started to hear some noise. Flowey tried to engage in an argument, but they weren’t in the mood, more curious about who was there. So they just ignored him, walking forward. The encounter quickly followed.

* Snowdrake flutters forth!

Maybe a friendly conversation could lift their spirits.

* ACT

* Joke

“Hey! _Ice_ to meet you” Their ignored their brother frustration grunts.

“Is that s'posed to be funny? That was horrible” the monster was taller than them, but nothing compared to their mother. He was no threat.

He launched his attacks, and… well, colour them unimpressed, the ice blades casted circular motions, but the axis were awry, they barely had to move at all to get out of the way.

* ACT

* Taunt

“Can **you** do any better?” they struggled not to put the intonation on the wrong word, they really wanted a better attack to dodge, but they needed to escalate the humour to win the encounter.

“M.. m.. macaroni and _freeze_” he shouted, his voice as unruly as his attacks.

Pitiful.

But at the same time…

They couldn’t contain a giggle, his attempt to look tough as he clumsily delivered the pun? It was so amusing!

“What are YOU laughin’ at?!?” the teen ruffled his feathers, becoming even bigger “It wasn’t funny!” he sent a wave of ice blades coming from two different directions, and now they looked closely the attack seemed to be his frozen feathers? They dodged it either way.

“That one was so bad!” they put a hand on their mouth to hide their smile.

“Shut up!” he appeared to be annoyed, so it would be best for them to explain.

“Bad puns are the best kind of humor” said after dodging another wave of frozen feathers. They saw his instance changing and a hint of curiosity on the way his wings moved.

“Ice puns are _snow_ problem for me” He said more confident, they giggled a bit more, it was refreshing to hear some puns.

“_Ice_ what you did there” they retorted quickly, prepared to dodge another wave.

“_Chill_ out, I’m not attacking you anymore” True to his words, he didn’t.

* Snowdrake is pleased with its _cool_ demeanor.

* MERCY

* Spare

“You have good taste” he said while they felt the pressure of a check, whatever he saw made him spare them in return “But you should go back to where you came from” He added a bit more stern “I’m not dusting any stripes, but you are still a free-EXP”

“Thank you for the warning” they smiled at him, noticing how he looked around for other monsters “I’m heading for Snowdin right now, you’re from there right?”

He made a displeased noise “No… there is nothing good there”

“What about your family?” he eyed them incredulous, and they realized this may be a private question.

“Do you see any stripes?” they shook their head “Exactly!” they made a humming noise “I’m not going back there, the _cold_ old man can choke on an icicle for all I care”

“Did you run away from your father?” That was kinda depressing.

“Yea, why?” he didn’t have stripes, but was clearly too young to live on his own “You never did that?”

“Well… I… kinda ran away from my mom just now” said the last part quickly, shamefully realizing what a hypocrite they were being.

He looked at them suspiciously, but held an understanding air “Was she bad?”

They immediately shook their heads in a negative “She is the kindest monster I ever met” and they would never imply otherwise.

“Then you are plain stupid” they heard a muffled giggle from the sweater, and tapped the boot a few times for it to stop.

“But I wanted to go out of the house, she didn’t let me” he nodded understanding, then changed his expression, like he had just remembered something.

“You are still in stripes!” he pointed at their sweater, the two purple stripes standing visibly on the blue background “Of course she didn’t! … I bet you didn’t even remember to bring food!” he laughed at them, like the threat to starve was funny.

“Did you?” his laugh stopped abruptly, and he coughed. They held a smile, they knew it.

“I have a system” said quietly.

“Is that so?” They asked quirking a brow, suspicion clear on their voice.

“If you had a poor taste in jokes I would have stolen your lunch!” they guessed he could… try? How was he planning on doing that anyway?

“I’m not carrying any” and the ones they had, were safely tucked in their inventory, no one could touch that unless they **themselves** brought it up, magic signature and something like that, those eight spaces were sacred.

The teen ruffled his feathers “That’s not my problem” well… if he was going to ignore logic, they had more important things to do.

“Alright… well good luck?” waving they started walking.

“Hey!”

“Hm?”

“Show me what kind of magic you got” he was agitated, but not aggressive like before.

“I’m not fighting you” It was the simpler way to put it.

“No, really” he insisted, closing the distance “If you are good with magic I’ll let you tag along” he seemed to be truly interested now “we can ambush people from both sides, plus safety in numbers”

“I appreciate the offer, but ambushing is not my thing, I rather make friends instead” pointing to the path “plus I really have to go to Snowdin”

“Alone?” what? Was he concerned for their safety? That was hilarious.

“Yep” and now that they refused he would pretend not to be interested.

“Well, it’s your funeral” called it.

They laughed and said goodbye. It didn’t take long, just a few steps and they heard their brother’s voice.

“At least you didn’t die this time” came the annoyed voice from below their sweater, ‘at least he was behaving’ they thought, but of course didn’t say it.

They shrugged, pretending to be fine “Puns bring people together” he rolled his eyes and went back to quietness.

This universe was not so bad, maybe it carried a little of their original universe? Maybe it was their whole universe that… turned a bit fell? Was there anything like a universe ‘a little bit’ fell?

It was better than the alternative anyway.

As the night came to view, they found a place, a destroyed sentry station that they used as a shelter for the night, there was some irony in a human having the sentries to thank for their survival, it pleased them.

By the third day they had the brilliant idea of tying the boot on their torso with their bandages, freeing their hands on the process. Flowey called them an idiot so many times they purposefully headed the wrong way, ending up in the river to have a ‘peaceful’ lunch. The cookie was eaten at the sound of annoyed remarks, but he dropped the subject afterwards.

Finally!

Now they could resume their journey.

Doggo was the first sentry they found actually in his station.

* Seeing a dog ready to be pet, fills you with determination.

And hands down, he did a hell of a job!

Ok, the first time was their fault. He killed them because they got startled by the orange blade, Flowey had said something about colored magic, but for some reason they were sure Doggo would use light blue, not orange.

Second time, they got sliced because when the orange approached, they tried to move as you were supposed to with orange magic… and since they moved, he saw them, and sliced them. The end.

Next try, they died again, because despite trying to be completely still, they shuddered from the pain when the blade hit, what made Doggo see them and… well...

Then **finally** stood completely still, letting the blade consume their HP, and not wincing by the pain… aaand… they tried to pet him… wasn’t that a great idea? Startled by being pet by something he could not see, he just spammed orange attacks.

Deciding for the sensible option of petting him in another occasion, in the next try they stood still through the orange blade, expecting it to be the end of it…

But after attacking he kept looking, so they had to keep being still, right in front of him, for a what should have been at least ten minutes.

Luck was not in their side today, because Lesser Dog was passing by and saw them… and… once again... well…

This time, they waited.

Lesser went by the path, talked to Doggo for a while, both shared a dog treat and after a few amiable growls, he left.

**Then** they tried again, so after they took the hit from the orange blade, Doggo was in a much better humor, retreating to his station to finish his dog treat.

Tired, they decided it was enough for the day, building a shelter with the silver knife on the forest. Their brother helped.

Waking up on the precarious den of snow and twigs, the fourth day was uneventful, Flowey had directed them to go North and for what they couldn’t figure, they were sure the city was to the East, but didn’t comment. It was the same, the snow, the walking, the–/

“Have you ran out of food already?”

“Hm?” They looked at him, he was still safely tucked on the sweater about to repeat himself, but his words registered before he could “I’m not hungry”

“You walked all day!” he used his vines to get out of the boot, he liked to talk directly to their face, made him feel better, they supposed.

“I just got up”

“Are you dumb? That was hours ago! It’s almost getting dark” They shot a quick look at the sky in a reflex, but it was all the same. Anywhere outside the Ruins was impossible to differentiate the variations in luminosity, it was either clear or dark, and that was it. 

“I should eat then, I guess” They lazily ate a candy from their inventory.

“I don’t know why you wanted to leave if you would be in such a bad humor” he murmured to himself.

“Why are we heading North anyway?”

“Because you have to saaave energy” he said, voice wavering and going strangely faster on the last words “And no one comes here, so it’s safe to walk”

He had a point… But maybe…

They hadn’t saved since before Doggo… maybe they should do it.

They took a deep breath.

* Seeing the long snowy path ahead fills you with…

* … apathy.

Or maybe not.

Just not feeling like it

“Look! Over there!”

“What?” they looked ahead, nothing more than endless cold.

“Is that a Snowmen?” Flowey asked with nonsensical wonderment in his voice.

“It looks like it?” they eyed the newfound construct, there was some kind of bag over its head.

“Oh no! It looks like he needs help” The look on his face, eyes morphing in a concerned expression, head angling his petals to look a bit down, as if in worry. But at the same time, posture absent of the real telltales of genuine empathy.

They could laugh at his mockery of display of emotion.

“Is anyone there?” The cry caught their attention, the creature seemed afraid.

“We are not going to hurt you” They assured, approaching it carefully.

“You… came to get another piece?” The snow was trembling under the bag, they felt sick.

“No” said strongly, removing the bag from his head “I’m here to help”

“Thank you” it smiled, despite the obvious missing chunks of snow “That was stuck there for a while”

“We can build him back again using more snow” they looked at their brother, surprised.

“That’s actually a good idea” they murmured.

“Please not the grey snow” it looked to the ground, where most the snow had an odd quality to it, they took a moment registering the meaning of the grey powder spread nearby.

“Wouldn’t dream of it” the mere thought of touching that thing was repulsive.

“I bet we could find clean snow over there” he pointed to the forest with the certainty of someone that had done it before.

They followed his lead, finding some pure white snow between the trees and using their outer sweater as a bag, they brought enough to reconstruct the missing parts of the snowman, that thanked them profusely.

Somehow, helping the construct made them feel a little better.

Knowing whoever did that to him was likely to come back, they made sure to put even more snow than it was necessary, making him bigger and adding two twigs to serve as his arms.

“The two of you are very kind” Now its smile sat evenly in a well-shaped face.

“Nah” they dismissed, looking at their brother on the snow “It was his idea” he had abandoned the boot when the natural light ran out, enduring the cold to make sure the snow was firmly placed “I’m just tagging along”

“But you did most of the job” he said in an annoyed tone, using his vines to pat the newly placed snow, they approached carrying the next load of clean snow.

“You were the one plotting to get me here” They dumped it on what they thought to be his side, but by the way he yelped and the snow shuffled around, maybe it was in one of his vines, it was hard to tell.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about” said unconvincingly, the darkness vanished as the mushroom glowed again on the boot, his vine retreating. The biomagiluminescent addition hat had been enormously useful and left them wondering what else he carried on his inventory.

“You sound familiar” the now huge snowman said with a confused face “Have we met before?” Leaning down to poke at their brother’s face.

“We didn’t” Flowey dismissed him a tad too quickly “You never met any plant monster” patting his new twigs of arms away with his leaves, vines still busy with building him bigger.

“How do you know?” The snowman asked more confused than not, and their brother must have realized his slip up, because he quickly reacted with anger and a half-baked excuse, also calling him stupid.

From where the two were, they could hear them bickering, but not exactly understand what any of them said, not that they needed it, as they just saw how the snowman poked the mushroom with his new arms. They couldn’t tell which one had lighten up more, the construct with his new ability, or the blue mushroom lighting the clearing.

The blue and purple sweater was cold and heavy with snow, but nothing they couldn’t handle. A few frostbites could be healed by the cost of a single scolding, they could already imagine his voice screaming how they should have told him before it got that bad, and that humans were such a hassle.

But it was worth it.

The snowman had a big smile plastered on his face while tried to poke their brother, and despite the annoyed face he put on, he was clearly enjoying himself by dodging the amateur attempts with minimum effort, also retaliating by throwing snowballs at it every time the twigs missed him.

* Seeing the giant snowman and your brother playing in the snow, it fills you with Determination.

They didn’t expect the sudden golden light enveloping the area, but it was a welcoming feeling.

The appearing of the star had startled their brother, and for a moment he forgot to dodge, the construct seized the opportunity and poked his stem, his surprised yelp all but echoed.

Embarrassed, he redoubled the snowball throwing, making the snowman even bigger and stronger by default.

This was good, and coached a small smile to appear on their face.

It was familiar.

A reminder of why they were fighting for.


	18. Aware wolf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
41,517 down 60,037 to go

Waking up by the Snowman’s side was the closest they got to a well-rested night, the snow barricade helping them keep the heat within, hugging the old boot, their brother coiled safely on their sweater.

They were in such a good mood they could almost fall right back to sleep, wasn’t for the light that now illuminated the snow. A gentle awakening.

Today was a good day, they could feel it.

Their stomach growled loudly, despite being right next to it, Flowey didn’t woke up, just stirred a bit. They would know if he did woke up, he always grumbled in the mornings, they would offer him coffee if they didn’t know for a fact that he preferred tea.

Not that they had any, but it was the thought that counted.

Quickly, they grabbed a candy, letting the flavor melt in their tongue and feeling the healing magic work its way into the frostbites. It wasn’t enough to satiate their hunger, nor had the vitamins and minerals every human needed. But it was magic, and it had enough energy to keep them going for an entire day, so not much different than surviving on junk-food.

And…

Ok… so maybe they didn’t think things through…

Looking at their inventory, the only edible items were a single donut, relish and mustard, so basically, they had enough food for tomorrow, and condiments for two days more.

Ketchup they liked. They saw no problem in eating it from the bottle, the taste and smell were familiar and weirdly calming. Mustard they liked a little bit, but only when mixed with something sweeter. And relish, well they didn’t _relished_ it.

Bidding the now happy Snowman good bye, and touching the saving star for good luck and a bust of energy, they went South, back to the original path, then East, to Snowdin Town.

He was safely tucked on the boot, below their, now dry, sweater. He had worked so hard yesterday, they had no idea when they went to sleep, but it must have been after midnight, maybe four a.m.? Well, no way to know for sure, the phone had discharged yesterday.

It was a good thing he had a fluorescent mushroom, what brought the question, wha–/
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  136872:32                              Timeline 10 end.

/– aaat?

They were standing in front of the star.

Flowey stirred.

They panicked, freezing in place.

“And stay safe!” shouted a joyful voice on the back.

The Snowman, of course. They turned around and waved, they didn’t shouted back like last time, Flowey hadn’t almost wake up last time.

And more important…

Why?

It was quick.

It was painless.

But they had died…

If Flowey had been awake he would chastise them about being distracted, and that it was kill or be killed, and they were an idiot for dying like that…

And a double idiot for doing it all again.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  136869:06                              Timeline 11 end.

Oh!

They saw it now.

Flowey stirred again, this time mumbling a little, but went still soon after.

“And stay safe!” shouted the Snowman, they bid him goodbye and started walking, now with renewed care.

The path to Snowdin had traps, not puzzles, like actually bear traps, giant metal traps.

It was big enough for it to end on their chest, they must have been pierced through the heart last time by one of the spikes, that’s why they didn’t even remember it, it had been too quick.

They had to be careful, they scanned the path for irregularities that could indicate the triggers, and poking the suspicious ones with a stick, they walked slowly, trying to memorize where the traps had been.

One missed step and they heard the metal sound of the device, out of reflexes their arms shot upwards and they tried to duck.

But the metal crunched their skull like a dry roasted peanut.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  136900:48                              Timeline 12 end.

That had not been a completely bad idea.

Crouched as they were, it was right on the head. No immediate pain, quick. Strong enough to cut right through. And in that height it avoided Flowey completely.

“And stay safe!” they made a sign with their hand and went back to the path, remembering every trap they had passed until now.

And avoiding to step on the new ones, still unknown to them.

They didn’t saw this one.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  136915:18                              Timeline 13 end.

Welp, those traps were very well placed.

But not enough to stop them!

They did everything and again and it looked like the field was clear now. 

Looking before them the snow hadn’t been moved at all, behind them laid the traps they successfully avoided. On their arms the boot, with the precious cargo safely grabbing their sweater, he stirred and yawned, mumbling something.

* Dodging all the traps all by your own, fills you with determination.

“What are you so determined about at this hour?” his voice was full of sleepiness while he crawled to poke his head through their collar, they contained their giggliness as he looked around “Where is the Snowman?” they looked as his face morphed from curiosity to surprise and them turn to them mimicking irritation “Are you stupid? You could have died!”

They did, but he didn’t have to know that “I passed all the traps on my own, aren’t you proud?” they continued walking smiling victoriously.

“Proud of what?” he said with a hint of mocking to distract them from the slightly upwards curve of his mouth “You should have woken me up! What if you died?”

“**What** if I died?” they asked teasingly.

“You…” he held his head on his leaves growling a little “stupid human” and turning back at the path, all sleepiness gone “Next time wake me up”

“Ok” only if he was well rested though.

“I’m serious! Those traps are dangerous, you don’t–/”

“IT SEEMS” the loud voice caught both of their attention “THE HUMAN SURVIVED THE TRAPS” Papyrus was standing on the path, only twenty meters from them, how he got so close without them noticing was a mystery “LOOKS LIKE IT ISN’T COMPLETELY CLUELESS” 

“Hi Papyrus!” they waved energetically, it had been almost a week without seeing him, it was nice seeing a familiar face, even if said face was scowling at them “Those were your traps, weren’t they? They were really hard to see, almost caught me, but I dodged them all! Even Flowey is proud of me!”

“Shut up” he said quietly instead of the shouted ‘I am not!’ they were expecting, they turned to look at him, but a silhouette behind them caught their attention.

“he is, isn’t he?” Sans was less than a meter between them and the traps, they were surrounded.

“Don’t move” Flowey said serious “And let me do the talking, and we may survive this” he looked at them meaningfully and they understood. If he failed, they would do the talking next time.

Sans laughed behind them “shoulda gone back when ya could” they turned to him, but a loud noise quickly made them look back at Papyrus, that was as close now as his brother.

“SHOULDN’T TURN YOUR BACK TO YOUR ENEMY, HUMAN”

“You’re not my enemy, P–/” a leaf muffled their mouth, right, he was supposed to do the talking this time.

“Papyrus” Flowey started meekly “Papyrus, I–/” but the loud skeleton interrupted him.

“I THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS” He put a hand on his chest in a grand gesture “HAVE DECIDED TO GRANT THE HUMAN THE HONOR TO TRY ONE OF MY PUZZLES, SANS ESCORT IT” and he turned his back to them, maybe he didn’t considered them an enemy after all.

“ok Boss” a hard poke on the back startled them.

“Ouch” they protested, the skeleton only smiled.

“too slow” he poked again.

“Ouch, stop it” they walked faster, trying to put some distance between them and his pointy fingers, approaching Papyrus.

“Stop making noise” whispered Flowey “You are lucky Papyrus is fair and believes in rewards”

“So you **do** think I deserve a reward for dodging the traps?” they tried to tease, but he was still tense, looking at the monster in front of them.

Papyrus walked very quietly for a monster his size. One would think that with those big red platform boots his steps would be loud, but the one making noise was Sans and his untied sneakers.

And by the way, why the extra height? He was already a giant! Must be bigger than 2 meters tall, even if they extended their arm, they were still smaller than him.

“IT IS A COMMONLY FORGOTTEN FACT” they walked a bit slower, in their eagerness to guess his height, they had gotten quite near his back “BUT ANY MONSTER THAT OBSTRUCTS THE ROYAL GUARD DUTIES IS GUILTY OF TREASON” what?

Flowey held them tighter, was Papyrus threatening him? That wasn’t good. They didn’t like it at all.

“SENTENCED TO LOSE ALL POSSESSIONS AND TITTLES” he kept going, unconcerned about the repercussion “PLUS FIFTY YEARS IN PRISON OR A WEEK OF TORTURE ON THE KING’S DUNGEON”

They heard a bitter laugh on their shoulder “Or? Does a traitor get to choose? How merciful our king”

Those sentences were horrible! Fifty years? Torture? Why were they talking so casually about this? This was so wrong! A vine pressed their shoulders, Flowey was looking at them, he understood their struggle. It was his father’s rules after all.

“MERCIFUL INDEED” They couldn’t see his face, and he walked too fast for them to outrun… unless they started to actually running, what sounded like an easily misinterpreted action “CAPTURING HUMANS AND FREEING US ALL **IS** THE PRIMAL DUTY OF THE GUARD. IT SHOULD BE HIGH TREASON INSTEAD”

“Is there a difference?” Curiosity peaked in his voice, even if it was a threat, he appeared to be calmer than before.

“about this much” Flowey turned to look, they did it too.

“That doesn’t seem much” Flowey was faster and beat them to it, San’s fingers were almost touching.

“yea, go figure, they separate yer head from yer neck just this much” suddenly the small gap seemed to be huge “and people go screaming _bloody murder_”

He stopped.

They didn’t.

They collided with Papyrus’ back.

“Sorry” quickly apologized, but the taller’s attention wasn’t in them.

He was slightly trembling, which was odd, his piercing gaze, and somehow bigger scowl, directed at his brother. Sans in turn was paralyzed, his eyes never left Papyrus’ face, but eyelights were dim, like he was expecting something horrible to happen.

“We are lucky no one here is obstructing anything” Papyrus turned to Flowey as he spoke, then to his brother and resumed walking.

“GOOD” said gravely with his back turned to them, they felt like Flowey had just avoided a situation here, but couldn’t quite put their finger on what or how it happened. For now they should just trust him.

“that includes no cheating on the puzzle, Weed” they could hear him on their back, but kept looking forward, they didn’t want to bump on Papyrus again.

“BEHOLD” he proclaimed after a while “THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE”

They looked… but… “I can’t see anything” there was just a snowy field ahead.

“ ‘Invisible’, you idiot, learn to listen” well that was anticlimactic.

“YOU SHOWED EXPERTISE IN EVADING DEADLY TRAPS, NOW YOU WILL HAVE THE HONOR OF TRYING THE MAZE”

The emptiness of the field didn’t stop Papyrus of standing proud of his puzzle, so they shrugged the disappointment and paid attention to him.

“ONCE IT’S ACTIVATED, THERE IS NO WAY TO DETECT THE CORRECT PATH” he said crossing the field, they stood behind with Sans “THE ONLY WAY TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL IS TO KEEP GOING THROUGH THE PAIN” he looked at them with a bit of a challenge “FOR SOMEONE THAT SPENT A WEEK BOONDOGGLING ON THE FORREST, IT WOULDN’T SURPRISE ME IF YOU GAVE UP ON A CHALLENGE THAT DEMANDED HARD WORK” they were excited, he didn’t know how wrong he was.

“there ya go” Sans put something cold over their head, lifting their hand to inspect it, it was some kind of a ball that got stuck to their hair “if ya can go to the other side carrying this, ya win” it seemed to be an easy enough concept.

“Do I get a prize? Can we do more puzzles later?” he seems surprised with their enthusiasm, but didn’t answer, just walking to the end of the puzzle, where Papyrus was waiting.

“How difficult is for you to let me do the talking?”

“Oh, sorry” they forgot that.

“On the case the human manage to cross the field” Flowey shouted, catching Papyrus’ attention “You let them pass unharmed”

“IF IT CAN’T, I WILL CAPTURE AND BRING IT TO THE KING”

“Deal” He said loud enough for the monster to hear, then directed his whispers at them “Now we just have to – What are yo–/”

But they weren’t exactly listening.

* The prospect of completing the puzzle of the great Papyrus, fills you with determination.

“/–u doing?!” he ended exasperated “Why did you do that? What if you can’t pass the puzzle? Now there is no way of turning back!” fortunately he kept whispering, so the brothers didn’t hear it.

“Is hard work, I can work hard” this and it wasn’t completely intentional, they were just really excited to try a new puzzle.

“Whatever” he mumbled angrily with and added “Stupid human” under his breath.

They paid him no mind following the steps on the snow.

*--------------------*

It was supposed to be easy.

Why did they expect this to be easy?

They remembered this one to be an easy puzzle, it didn’t looked so easy now...

The deaths had only rendered them a few carefully placed steps, each of them had a chance of being their last on the current timeline.

They could see Papyrus’ displeased face, but they couldn’t go any faster! It wasn’t hard work, it was suicide! One wrong step and…

They had to choose.

Following the brothers’ steps was useless, as they had walked right through the deactivated walls, and now they were very much activated, they had four timelines to prove it.

But they could use the steps to know where some of the walls **could** be.

Papyrus had walked evenly among the field, with his large legs’ stride. But Sans, with his shorter legs, hadn’t. They could see some of the steps were closer and others were farther apart, as if he was avoiding stepping on imaginary lines.

Bingo.

Now they were standing on one of his steps and by the way it ended abruptly, there was a wall before them. What left the question… right or left?

They memorized the path until now and stepped right.

An excruciating pain burst from the orb, they were knocked out before they knew it.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  137157:42                              Timeline 18 end.

The feeling of electricity still lingered on their fingers, they looked at their hands and questioned themselves if it was their imagination or if there was really remaining static on their fingertips.

“We can’t keep doing that with every step” he murmured, they questioned if they could give him a little shock with static “You are dying too much, its going to take at least – why did you poke me for?!” he ended in a screech.

“No reason” the answer was no, they couldn’t, that was a common surprise screech, not a pained one.

“Go over there already!” he took his vines from the boot, spreading them over the air and around them.

They remade the steps on the last timeline, slow enough to pretend doing it for the first time. And of course, going left instead of right on the last step.

“Now stop, and let me work” was it safe to keep going? That was the question. Flowey extended his vines striking a thoughtful face.

“Can you feel the electricity field?” it was the only explanation for what he was doing.

“A little? But everything around here is very charged, is hard to tell” his vines extended a little wider “maybe if I tr– AAAH” a scream plus a zapping sound and soon he was healing one of his vines, they braced themselves for the reload, but it never came “Not that way” he pointed out instead.

“Be careful, you could have died” they caught themselves saying, Flowey looked at them unimpressed.

“Yeah, look who’s talking” he extended two more vines for the other directions “Gaaah” one was burned in similar manner “That way” he pointed.

They took another step, but before Flowey could do it again, magic filled the air, they were surrounded by bone attacks. And it was absurdly clear they were attacks, they were all jagged and uneven, what gave them a scarier appearance, or so it felt.

“THIS IS THE **ONE** CHANCE TO TRY THE PUZZLES” Papyrus shouted angrily “I WILL NOT ALLOW IT TO BE ANYTHING BUT A FAIR CHALLENGE FOR THE HUMAN, AND THE HUMAN ALONE” the bones readjusted his angles, aiming at Flowey “MONSTERS SHOULD STEP ASIDE, I WILL ALLOW NO CHEATING”

“How is that fair?” Flowey shouted back, pointing to the place they had just shocked him “You said they could win through hard work and pain” the roots in their shoulder didn’t lie, he was nervous.

“EXACTLY, AND I WILL ALLOW NO MONSTER ENDURING PAIN FOR A HUMAN, NO MATTER HOW DESERVING OF PUNISHMENT HE IS” they heard the venom in his voice, did he really thought Flowey deserved to be punished only because he was on their side?

“How that can be a ‘hard working’ challenge” he made signs with his vines, his posture not betraying any insecurity “when the first mistake would kill the human?!” only anger filled his voice “Is a stroke of luck! Not endurance!”

“NONSENSE! THE SHOCKS ARE MEANT TO DEEPLY INJURY, NOT FOR KILLING”

“It doesn’t matter the intent! It’s too strong! It would kill a human! One shock! Just one!” Yelled the flower with all of his breath.

Both of them stood silent, the human shared a quick look with Sans, one that can only occur between two spectators of some great confront, each of them wondering if the other would intervene.

“WILL YOU TRY TO FOOL ME, FLOWEY? IT’S BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU ARE CONSPIRING WITH A HUMAN” Somehow the accusation lacked the pompous and exuberant air “EVEN SOMEONE WITH A LV AS PITIFUL AS YOURS SURVIVED TWO SHOCKS, A HUMAN MUST GO THROUGH IT WITH NO DIFFICULTY, EVEN A MERE CHILD CAN BE RIDICULOUSLY STRONG”

“It’s the truth Papyrus...” Flowey deflated, petals indicating a kind of sadness and… comprehension? “Humans can die really easy, they are not strong like monsters to sustain damage like that”

“NONSENSE!” The taller glared with fury “IF YOU WANT TO LIE FOR THEM, FINE!” he stomped the ground, the bones shattered in little specks of magic “AT LEAST WE KNOW WHERE YOUR ALLEGIANCE LIES!” they could hear in his voice, more than anger, more than rage, he sounded… hurt “BUT DON’T YOU DARE THINK THAT I CAN BE SO STUPID TO BELIEVE THAT HUMANS ARE WEAK, UNDERESTIMATE YOUR ENEMY AND YOU ARE AN EASY KILL!”

“actually Boss” They heard a meek sound while Sans toyed with the joy buzzer.

“WHAT!?” the hate glare made the smaller skeleton recoil, he stayed with his head down.

“humans are... weird, they are not magic, they are meat and electric impulses”

“STOP RAMBLING IN FRONT OF THE ENEMY SANS!”

“sh-shocks could kill ‘em” he still fidgeted with the joy buzzer “they could, could mess up with the, uh, inner electric impulses and s-stop the muscles from moving” he refused to meet Papyrus eyes, but that didn’t seem to matter.

Papyrus became quiet, a puzzled expression on his face, they thought Flowey was going to say something like ‘I told you’, but he didn’t. Thinking about it, he hadn’t antagonized him at all… So he could be civil, huh?

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, THEN?” the older quickly looked up “FIX IT”

“ok Boss” he extended his hand and–/

“Ouch!” the sticky ball was lifted abruptly, yanking a bunch of hair from their head.

While they massaged their head, Sans fidgeted with the orb, his left hand glowing red.

“Do you know how low it has to be for you to survive?” Flowey asked quietly.

They did!

They did…

What was that again?

Ok, maybe they didn’t remember… but it was something they definitely knew… at some point.

“You know” he interrupted their thoughts “Since we are already stuck here, you should go from the start again” they looked back, seeing the star at the beginning of the puzzle.

It would be smart to save, who knew if they could survive the next shock…

Walking back, that was exactly what they did! Completing the puzzle still filled them with determination after all.

They heard the sound of Papyrus cleaning his throat. It was funny that they could hear that that far away, especially because he didn’t have a throat.

“I PROMISED A FAIR CHALLENGE” he was back to his old self, imposing and confident “THERE IT IS” Sans lifted the orb way too high over the empty field – Just how big they thought humans were to build walls that high? – It was placed again securely on their head “NOW, PROCEED WITH NO HELP OR GIVE UP ENTIRELY”

They were ready.

The first steps were already marked on the snow. The next was already planned, one more and–/

They felt their whole body recoil in pain, they wanted to curl and hug themselves right then and there. Now the electricity lingering on their fingertips was real, but they had no will of subjecting their brother to the same fate.

“You’re ok over there?” His voice, they nodded “You don’t look ok” they tried to make the ‘ok’ symbol with their fingers, but they were just shaking too much, too hot and kinda exploding on the tips? That wasn’t going to work was it?

“I’m ok” they said, breathing deeply, they didn’t know how many of those they could take before passing out.

“IF YOU GIVE UP IT WILL BE PAINLESS” Papyrus was standing there, proud of the results, but his smirk just rubbed them the wrong way.

It was just pain. They could take it. They had it worse.

Another step, no shock, they could do this.

*--------------------*

Panting on the ground, the cold snow was a welcome sensation on their sweaty body, they let themselves fall backwards, briefly thinking about doing a snow angel to celebrate, but dismissing the idea when the tiredness settled, a victorious smile adorned their face, and gathering all the strength they still had, they lifted a closed fist in the air.

‘Victory’ they tried to say, but were breathing so hard they didn’t verbalize it.

Looking around Flowey was saying something to the brothers, surely confirming that they were free to go.

The snow was soft on their cheek, it didn’t melt, and it was a comforting kind of cold.

Papyrus stood tall as always, was he proud of them? They worked really hard this time. His face betrayed no emotion, settled in his ever present scowl as it was, no one could tell.

The exploding sensation on their finger and toes subsided, a numbing feeling crawling on their arms and legs.

Sans was looking directly at them, he seemed to be amused, they smiled at him and he looked away, more interested on what his brother was saying.

They tried to pay attention and listen to his loud voice, but the buzzing sound was still louder on their ears.

Their sight was blurred, exhaustion calling for them.

Maybe they could take a quick nap.

Just for a little bit.

They earned it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer: Just finished the first draft, yay!  
Flowey: Are you sure? That doesn't seem like something I would say…  
Writer: Okay, I can do this!  
*Precedes to write second draft*  
Flowey: Are you an idiot? Do you think I'm **that** dumb?  
Writer: Oookay… so I guess he wouldn't do that, third draft it is.  
*Flowey stares*  
*Writer expectant*  
Flowey: No.  
*Writer proceeds having an existential crisis*  
Flowey: I’m not that hard to write, get over yourself!  
Writer: Hey kid, don’t your brother looks tired to you?  
Human: Hm, he does, doesn't he?  
Flowey: What are you two idiots talking about?  
Writer: how about you don't wake him up for the first half of the Chapter?  
Human: I think i can do that.  
Flowey: That won't fix your second half, you know?  
Human: Hey hey, since we are talking now, how about a little treat?  
Writer: Hm... Depends, what you want.  
Human: Could you write us breaking the barrier?  
Writer: ... You know I have to write the journey first, don’t you?  
Human: You know, you could break the barrier next chapter and free everyone, then write everything else as a flash back, so they are free and happy while you tell the story.  
Writer: ... How about no?


	19. What do you call a frozen dog?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
44,739 down 69,856 to go

“Get up already!”

“Hm?” they tried to balance themselves into an upright position, body still heavy from dizziness they propped themselves on the ground “Did I sleep?” they didn’t remember going to bed.

“How many fingers am I holding?” the blurred mess before them sounded like Flowey.

“God, I hope none” Their tongue was kinda numb, it was weird, imagining Flowey with a human hand. Human shaped fingers were weirder.

“Why do I still bother?” He asked while face palmed, witch it was funny because… _palm_…

They had to remember this one.

Flowey with a huge green palm covering his face, like a coconut leaf… or a…

A green…

Green was so nice…

It was warm and told them to ‘take a better care of themselves’, called them ‘sibling’, called them ‘stupid’ and… wait, what?

“Why are you calling me stupid?” they opened their eyes, white snow on the ground, Flowey emanating a green light, the absence of a maze “And where are they?” no skeleton in sight.

“I didn’t call you stupid” they looked at him suspiciously “You still are stupid, I just didn’t call you one this time…” they felt there was something more to it, he just kept healing them with green magic… unusually quiet…

“I could swear I heard you calling me stupid”

“Maybe you found your conscience, was about time” ha ha, very funny.

“No, seriously” he stopped, admiring his work instead of paying attention to them “Am I hearing voices now? ‘Cause that can be problematic. Are you sure you didn’t say it?” He seemed thoughtful for a while before answering.

“What did you hear?” Suspicion was clear in his voice, but after their body being so carefully healed, they didn’t find in them to be annoyed with him.

“Well… it was your voice, but…” not quite? “it wasn’t…” corporeal? “a voice, I mean… more like a thought?” but they heard it either way “and it said I should take better care of myself” they looked at their hands, fidgeting, the inability to speak properly again plaguing their mind “and that I was your stupid sibling” they weren’t stupid, they just struggled sometimes.

A noise they weren’t expecting caught their attention.

He laughed…

Laughed!

“You are, aren’t you?” Asked, amused for some reason, they glared, squinting their eyes at him, they were **not** an idiot.

“So you said it?” by the way he was laughing they should assume this, but there was something more… genuine about his whole demeanor.

“No” he denied “But apparently my magic said it to yours”

“I didn’t know you could do that” they had seen this kind of communication before, what was the name again?

“I can’t” the admittance didn’t allow them to be lost in thought, focusing on him instead “I mean… every monster can project, some better than others”

Oh, that it was, the word they were looking for was ‘Projection’.

“Magic come from a monster’s soul, so every time they use magic, other parts of their soul, like feelings and thoughts, also go out with it”

“Like their intent?” That made sense, no matter how good you were at separating things, magic always carried a signature, color, intent and feelings, among several other things.

“Yes” but the surprised way he was looking at his leaves was concerning “I just didn’t know I could…”

“Project?” He had magic, why would he think he couldn’t project?

“Yeah… project…” by the way he looked to the side he was not completely honest, they thought about questioning more “Whatever” he said batting his leaves, like dismissing his own thoughts as stupidity “You passed out on the snow after we won, Papyrus said you could have the honor to see the next puzzle before you die”

“Well, how nice of him” Maybe he was putting up a front “For someone you said was angry all the time, he is being pretty tame” not letting the world to see how he still was the same Papyrus on the inside.

“Tame?” He mocked the word “He just killed you what? Five times?”

“He didn’t kill me though, the traps did”

“Why is this not a big deal for you?”

“I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“You’re weird”

“You have **no** idea”

The last battle may have been too much excitement for a day, and they had no intention of facing another trap so soon.

In fact they slowed the walking to a sluggish pace, and as incredible as it sounded, Flowey didn’t complained about that, he even seemed to enjoy the break.

“Ball game!” they yelled throwing their hands on the air, victorious.

Flowey read loudly the message displayed near the red flag “Bravery. Justice. Integrity. Kindness. Perseverance. Patience. Using these, you were able to win at Ball Game, you won 50G”

“Seriously?” they could use that kind of money “Why does this one still works?”

“The others are easy, they ran out of money fast, but no one is so stupid to lose an entire afternoon playing enough to discover that there is yet another level to this thing”

“Well, I did” They said, watching the cash disappear with magic as they touched it, a quick unfocused blink and they could see the money added on the black screen that displayed their status. A menu, as they liked to call it.

“And you are my favorite idiot” Maybe they could use the money to buy something for him.

“You know what, that was kind of nice” something to eat perhaps “I’ll take it as a compliment” Oh, oh! They knew just the thing!

“Whatever, but we should find some place to sleep in, is getting dark”

“I wish we had some Nice Cream though” They remembered faintly how they used to ask for a single milkshake and two straws. He would get brain freeze every time, but refuse to drink it any slower. They would both end up in a race drinking as fast as they could, just for the right to eat more of the dessert, despite Mom’s insistence to buy them one milkshake each, they always–/ 

“A what?”

“A Nice Cream?”

His face remained blank, they felt scared and anxious.

“Don’t you tell me you don’t have Nice Cream?!” The universe couldn’t be cruel enough to deny them of ice cream! “Delicious frozen treat?” What dessert would they share on their ‘sibling bonding’ moments? Pie was too common to be a treat, and chocolate always ended up in fights.

“Sweet, creamy, makes your head hurt when you eat it too fast?”

“Yes!” Pure relief washed over them. ‘Sibling bonding dessert time’ was still a viable option.

“You mean Vice Cream”

“I guess” the name was unimportant, but they had to make sure the taste would be the same “Why vice, though?”

“The treat so delicious it will get you addicted”

“Sounds about right”

“That is just the slogan, idiot, you won’t actually get addicted” his voice dropped to a whisper “Mom’s pie is way better” he was silent for a moment, maybe he missed her already? “Anyway, you won’t find it here, the guy is in Hotlands, Waterfall at most, he never gets here”

By Flowey’s advice, once it was dark, they headed North to find two empty guard stations, they slept on ‘Hers’ station, as it was far down on the road and, to their delight had a comfortable mattress underneath the balcony.

Next morning Flowey woke them up before it got bright, which made sense, they had to avoid the guards after all. Still they thanked Flowey profusely for the information, sleeping in a bed again had been so comfortable and relaxing they even got 10 more HP from the ‘well-rested’ bonus.

But even with the status improved, they couldn’t help but notice the beginning of frostbites, they wished they could take a bath on mom’s house, it was only the fifth night sleeping on the forest and they were already smelling like dirt and snow.

Determined on hitting the red flag on Ball game, they spent the morning playing and got quite the amount of G! They also were lucky enough to find the same Snowdrake, that didn’t attack them this time, instead they gave him some tips about the ball game.

At first Flowey was against telling the monster his life hacks, but relented when they argued that he needed to eat too and that make money in a game was better than getting into fights.

And getting killed, it passed unspoken between them.

The drake wasn’t in stripes anymore, so it was a very likely possibility.

Flowey as very useful on that, telling him the best spots to hide and to get food, Snowdrake listened attentive, dropping a few puns here and there. They tried a few too but they were equally bad at it.

They had to improve their pun game, they were terrible out of practice, maybe they could think of a few before reaching the city, but after talking with Snowdrake so much all they could think were ice puns.

At the afternoon their stomach grumbled, so Flowey told them to pull off the main road and go eat near the trees covering the hidden switch, while he stood behind a tree and looked out for possible troubles. They begrudgingly left him there and had Relish as lunch, they turned their nose, but ate it anyway.

“You are lucky I’m here with you” he said while they picked the boot of the ground.

“Yep, I’m lucky you are here” their stomach wasn’t complaining anymore, apparently pacified with being ‘not empty’. Their mouth on the other hand, was asking for better food for a few days now.

“Lesser was just here, but he went down the road for his patrol, we won’t have to worry about seeing him till tomorrow” Oh, bummer, they wanted to pet him “You are lucky I know the guard routine. Now we just have to wait here a bit until the Dogi go to their post and we can keep walking”

“Very lucky” he was so proud of himself, with his little leaves puffed out, like he was trying to imitate a hero’s pose, they couldn’t disagree “Anything else happened while I was eating?”

“Papyrus stopped by to know why were you taking so long to walk a one way road”

“Really?” Was he worried about them? “And what did you say?”

“I told him you were an idiot”

They sighed, it was such a Flowey thing to do, they didn’t know what else they expected “Right… and what did he said?”

“To hurry”

“Ok” straight to the point, somehow it sounded like Papyrus.

For the way he presented himself he seemed to be very straightforward, and maybe a little bit difficult to handle?

Or that was the way he wanted to be seen at least, they were sure he was as sweet as before below all the front he put.

“I told him how you wasted your time rebuilding the Snowman” It took a few seconds to process what Flowey had interrupted their thoughts with, but when the words made sense, they were definitely not happy.

“Why did you tell him that?” Why would he? How would they even get to this subject?

“What? Was it a secret?” He didn’t seem to see what the big deal was.

“No, but… I didn’t do anything!” In truth, they didn’t know what the big deal was either, they only knew that it bothered them.

“Yes you did!” Why did that bothered them?

“I know, but…” they tried to figure out why they were feeling like this “You don’t just tell people you helped someone” but this was the best explanation they got, he eyed them confusedly, they probably were making no sense.

“Everyone does it” He was right. They had to elaborate it better if they wanted to make any sense.

“Ok” they breathed in and out, to help them put their thoughts together “Sometimes you may do this, but not when helping was the only decent thing to do! You don’t brag about doing the bare minimum!” they said exasperated, but he still didn’t look like he saw the problem “Besides, it was **your** idea, I’m not taking credit for it”

He seemed to understand, or at least drop the subject for now.

They were silently sitting by the tree, why couldn’t they just keep going again? He had said something, but they weren’t exactly paying attention then.

“…and how you taught the Snowdrake how to get money” he said after a minute of silence.

Ok… why?

Why was he telling him that?

“**You** did that one”

“It was **your** idea”

“Yes, but why would you tell him that?”

“He asked”

“And you what? Gave him a full report?” They were pissed now, he wasn’t even seeing what was wrong with talking about them behind their back.

“Why do you care? Is not like I’m telling him something bad, I’m not even lying!”

“Exactly! You are only telling him the ‘good things’, now he will think I’m some kind and selfless saint, and then he will meet **me** and be disappointed, because I’m very much **not** just good things!”

“Fine! next time I will also tell him how stupid you are” His face morphed to his twisted smile “Oh Golly, I already did that!”

“Coming from you, is not like it means anything, you use ‘idiot’ like a period in every sentence”

“Well, then I will tell him how stubborn and annoying you are”

“As if **you** were any better!”

“I’ll tell him how much of a crybaby you are!”

“I’m not a crybaby”

He morphed his face to something human like, it was bizarre “~Mom! Please Mom!~” Not just any human… that was their face.

His voice was both mocking and in tune of what they sounded like when too sleepy.

“~I’m sorry”

He was mocking their nightmares.

“~I don’t hate you!~”

“Stop” they murmured, he didn’t know what that meant, if he had known, he wouldn’t be bringing it up so lightly.

“~Please don’t leave!~” Their eyes watered at the cruel display.

“Stop.” They gritted their teeth, they wanted to punch him.

“~Sorry, so sorry, please~” he kept going, they took a deep breath and waited until he ended the theatrics with a gut wrenching scream “and that’s my every other night” said smugly.

*--------------------*

They had little droplets of water on their eyes, but were avoiding to cry in front of him, it was so funny, how a dumb nightmare made them cry like this even when they were awake.

She was right there on the ruins, if they wanted her so badly they could have stayed there!

But nooo…

They had to get out of the safety of her home and go to an adventure in a world full of monsters trying to kill them, **and him** by proxy.

And now he was basically a traitor, and they didn’t even appreciated his efforts to keep them alive.

‘Why did you tell him that?’

To convince him not to kill you on sight, duh?

At least now they were as annoyed as he was with all this.

And almost crying…

Such a baby…

“I’m telling mom!”

What?

They grabbed their phone and started to push buttons.

“Hey, wait!” he tried to take the phone of their ear, but they started to spin around to dodge his vines.

“Too late, you had your – Hi, mom” they cut in chirpily.

“Don’t say it” He pleaded still trying to take the phone away or at least mimic an apology before they said anything.

“Not really” They were ignoring him, he couldn’t let her know “Flowey just made me cry”

… no…

“Yes, hm, the nightmares, okay” he panics as they put one hand on the speaker and turn to him to say “she wants to talk to you” she was going to kill him.

He grabbed the phone quickly on shaky leaves “They started it!” he yelled, waiting for his mother disappointed reply… but there was nothing…

Just their muffled laughter.

His confusion lasted only for a second, he looked at the phone, discharged since the night with the Snowman, and remembered the lack of outlets on their path.

…

Really?

They wanted to make fun of him?

They wanted to make him feel scared?

After all the trouble he went for them, they wanted to make him think SHE was disappointed in him?

“Serves you right” they showed the tip of the tongue, like this was just a common prank.

You know what?

Whatever!

They think they are clever?

They can freeze for all he care!

“Put me down”

“Aw Flowey, you got mad?” they teased, he was done.

“Put me down!” with his vines he started to undo the laces of the boot, but they quickly kneeled, putting the boot on the ground.

“I didn’t think you would **actually** get mad”

“Shut up, stupid!” he got out of the boot and into the ground, it was so cold he almost thought of going back to the boot.

But no. They messed up, so he would get back at them. And he would do that by proving a point.

“You think you are so clever! That just because you have this power you can do anything” that was what he had thought, and boy was he wrong, at least if they learnt this tiny lesson now, maybe they could avoid learning the big one the hard way “Well, you can’t, you know why?”

“Because actions have consequences?” The mirth was not on their voice anymore, and they were almost somber, like that single sentence aged them a decade.

But he could find out what that was all about another time, now he had a point to make “Because you are too weak to hold your ground”

Surprisingly they were listening, like they actually cared… fat chance, they probably were just lost in thoughts like usual.

“You did something I could kill you for” any ally would turn on them if they made fun of them like this, they were lucky he was incapable of feelings or he too might want to attack them for it “And you have no intention of attacking me even if I called you to an encounter. You are stupid if you think you can survive like this and still keep your friends around”

“I…”

“In this world” he continued, not letting them talk, and they let him get away with it... they had a lot to learn “you are punished for every mistake, for every encounter you don’t fight, for every EXP you don’t take, you will lose something”

They frowned, hand moving likely to signal they were trying to speak, but still too polite to speak over him.

“I’m done losing things” he ignored their look “A real monster would kill you for what you just did. But I know I can’t kill you so, I’ll do the next best thing” he made sure to have a playful and carefree voice just to put them on edge “After all someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do”

He winked and disappeared under the ground. Speaking just loud enough so they could hear.

“You are on your own”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer: With Undertale 5th anniversary I found the motivation of writing some more *Shows next chapter proudly*  
Flowey: Took you long enough  
Writer: C’mon man, it’s been a rough couple of months.  
Flowey: More like a few months doing nothing at all.  
Human: Flowey, don’t be mean.  
Flowey: What? You saw it! They lazied in bed all day.  
Human: If someone says it’s been hard lately you don’t deny or confront it. They are the only ones that can possibly know what they are feeling, so you just take their word for it.  
Flowey: Even if they avoided work and played games all the time? *Crossed leaves*  
Human: Yep  
Flowey: Feelings are overrated *Rolling his eyes*  
Writer: Ahem… anyway, my original plan was to publish every two weeks, but… didn’t worked out really well this last months, so I’ll do my best to not to procrastinate too much and do it at least once every month.  
Human: Thank you.  
Writer *Happy*  
Human: By the way, did you think about what I asked you?  
Writer *Deep breathing* You do realize that if I publish the end of the story with no context I will most likely lose motivation and never finish it, right?  
Human: I am sure you can do it! Be determined! You want them free as much as I do, I can feel it!  
Writer: Not everyone is made of Determination, kid. For some of us, simple mortals, baby steps are all we can accomplish.  
Flowey: See? They are just finding excuses.  
Human: No, no, I get it. Do the best you can do, as long as the baby steps are pushing you forward, that’s all you have to worry about.  
Writer: Yeah… thanks kid.  
Flowey: Go on in snail pace then, it’s not like I care.  
Writer: Thanks, you little tsundere.  
Flowey: What?  
Human: *Snikering*  
Flowey: That doesn’t even make sense, stupid.  
Writer: Don’t you mean ‘Baka’?  
Human: *Straight out laughing*  
Flowey: What’s so funny? I’m not a plane!  
Human: *Laughing so much is out of breath*  
Flowey: *Sigh* I can’t leave you alone for a single minute… Don’t you die from this! And don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone!


	20. A Pupsicle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Undertale, this incredible game was made by Toby Fox.  
I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as writing it helped me.  
48,517 down 70,650 to go.

Flowey ditched them to prove a point.

A point that they couldn’t stand their ground.

That they were too weak to both survive and keep their friends safe and happy.

That they were **weak**.

…

He didn’t know how wrong he was.

“I’ll take the boot with me” they yelled to the trees “to keep it warm for when you come back”

He had to still be in hearing range, but they didn’t know how much the dirt and snow muffled the sound.

“I’m sorry if I crossed a line, we can talk about it later”

He would have to promise not bring up their nightmares again, it was a low blow.

“I’ll be on my way to Snowdin, but don’t worry about me, take your time!”

He could catch on to them after he _cooled off_ a bit.

Maybe that would be a good thing, they were mad at him, a time to _chill_ would be greatly appreciated

“It _snow_ problem” they muttered under their breath, hanging out with Snowdrake had really put them on a punny mood.

Argument aside, they had a goal.

Right now they had to prove him wrong.

So they walked.

They could see two silhouettes at distance, the Dogi. They remembered that.

And god forbid they passed through so many dogs and not be able to pet a single one!

* Knowing the dogs deserve all the pets, fills you with determination

What they did not remember was how imposing they looked. The black hood and giant axes made them look like they were going to rip their soul out.

They were probably going to… but still.

They had to pet!

“What’s that smell?” A male voice asked, sniffing the air while the cloak apparently covered his eyes.

“There is the smell” A female voice answered, grabbing her axe and quickening her pace.

“You with a weird smell…” He wasted no time to pick up his axe.

“…identify yoursmellf!”

“I…” was their eloquent reply, in the eagerness to pet, they didn’t think the encounter through.

* Dogi assault you!

And now was too late to think.

“Wait!”

But they didn’t
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138741:49                              Timeline 19 end.

They could **at least** have tried to dodge… but hey, they could try again! In five.

Dogamy smelled them at the distance.

Four.

Dogaressa charged at them.

Three.

Wrong smell.

Two.

* Dogi assault you!

One.

They jumped to the side.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138741:49                              Timeline 20 end.

Truly a pitiful decision. There are two of them, coming from both sides, swinging their axes horizontally...

“Aaand I just remember why Flowey told me to wait…”

They had to stop getting lost on their own thoughts and pay more attention to their surroundings, or they would die a lot more than necessary.

Starting now.

This time they jumped back, avoiding both of the axes, but the Dogi swung again quickly and they had to choose.

They ducked to Dogaressa’s side, being hit on the leg by her enormous axe, throwing them to the ground, the wind knocked out of them.

That was a much stronger blow than they were used to, they couldn’t avoid a quick look at the red number going up.

“You took 20 HP?! Are you serious? That’s like my entire life!” They screeched while red tainted the snow.

“Smells like human” She declared.

“It makes me want to eliminate” He confirmed.

“Eliminate YOU!” As both of them raised their axes, they quickly performed a check.

* Dogaressa – ATK 14 DEF 6

* This Alpha finds her mate lovely.

* SMELLS ONLY!
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:02                              Timeline 21 end.

“She shouldn’t be that strong” Murmured to the wind.

But that made no difference, they would still have to face them.

“Why didn’t I die when she hit me?” This puzzled them just for a brief moment.

A quick unfocused blink revealed HP 30/20. Sleeping in a bed would really help today.

* Dogi assault you!

They jumped back, then, against all self-preservation, straight into Dogamy’s axe.

-10

* ACT

* Dogamy

* Check

* Dogamy – ATK 7 DEF 10

* Dogaressa’s mate.

* Trust only what he smells.

So they have two chances, three if they successfully avoid her, interesting.

* The dogs keep shifting their axes to protect each other.

“Let’s kick human tail”

“Humans have tails?”

Their bleeding arm did not stop them from dodging the magic bullets, to their credit they only got distracted by the heart shaped pattern twice, so it only cost them 6 HP this turn.

And they already had one action in mind.

* ACT

* Dogamy

* Pet

But the dogs didn’t let them get close, retreating to defensive stances. How do you even pet someone over 2 meters tall? Even their axes were bigger than them!

“It’s ok, I just want to pet you” They extended their hands in a pacifying motion.

“Paws off” He growled showing off his teeth and grabbing the axe strongly, it was their impression or there was a scar covering his hand? “You smelling human!” Not just the hand, seeing through the sleeve, pulled to his elbow by gravity, it looked like it covered the majority of his arm.

“That’s MY mate!” She was not behind, a deep scar ran down her cheek and covered her neck, in what once could have been a fatal blow, the sight made them wince in sympathetic pain.

“I’m not gonna hurt you” The dogs didn’t deserve to be hurt.

By the strength of their axes, they made sure they wouldn’t.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:19                              Timeline 22 end.

The Dogi hit hard.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:23                              Timeline 23 end.

The axes were too coordinated.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138741:55                              Timeline 24 end.

There was no way out.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138741:58                              Timeline 25 end.

Too quick for their legs to follow.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:36                              Timeline 26 end.

They refused being approached.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:28                              Timeline 27 end.

Even when they rolled around, they refused to re sniff them.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:16                              Timeline 28 end.

Why?
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:44                              Timeline 29 end.

Why they already knew they were a human?
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:13                              Timeline 30 end.

They were missing something, weren’t they?
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:14                              Timeline 31 end.

“What’s that smell?” Was the first thing he asked

“There is the smell” A smell, of course.

They wasted no time to roll around the snow.

“You with a weird smell…” Still? Rolling around did nothing?

“…identify yoursmellf!”

“I’m a friend!” they spat extending their wrists to them “There, you can sniff me!” If Flowey was here he would have berated them to need 13 reloads to think on that.

Dogaressa approaches and without breaking eye contact sniff in their general direction.

“You smell as weird as before” She growled.

“Wait, was I already smelling like this **before** rolling on the snow?” This was strange, for the brief memories that flashed in their mind, they had to roll around to disguise the smell.

“Suspect action”

“Action of an enemy”

“Is that a yes?” They tried again “What do I smell like **right now**?” And it seemed that both of the dogs complied.

“Dirt and snow” He answered, cornering them for one side, leaving the blade of the axe in front of them.

“And mystery smell” She said, going for the other, surrounding them completely.

They had nowhere to run but the axes if front of them.

But between the two sharpened blades and the four very big pair of canines, they would rather face the axes.

Welp. If they were going to die again anyway...

“So, I could be a weird monster with a weird smell, why…” As the words left their mouth, another memory flashed before their eyes “why can’t I be just… a weird…smelly… puppy?”

That was it, right? What they had been before. The missing piece.

Roll around, smell like a puppy and pet them.

“A lost puppy?” his tone changed, it was still aggressive, but he was hiding something.

“Yeah” they looked at their own hands while the Dogi whispered between themselves “I…” their hands had been covered in dirt since the day they left the ruins “I think I’m lost…” since they left their mother all alone in her empty house “I miss my mom…”

“Smells like salt and stripes” He said quietly, they blinked and cleaned their face, that was not how they were planning this to go.

“You will find no sympathy here” She said coldly, pulling the axe closer to herself at their neck’s height. They were now effectively trapped between the dogs at their back, the handle at their sides, the blade right in front of their eyes.

“There is a human around” He followed her lead, despite the blade of his axe standing further from their neck, they were trapped nevertheless.

“You smell like an enemy” They breathed in.

“Puppies have to stay close to their pack mates” They breathed out.

“**If**” She growled, buy it didn’t seem to be directed at them “you are a puppy” they needed to calm themselves to take full advantage from this run.

“And how will you know?” they tried to turn to her, but the axes didn’t allowed it “If I’m a human or not”

“Humans don’t dust” Her words made his axe tremble just a bit, so they knew they had a chance to talk with him.

“So you kill a child and wait to see if it was a monster or not?” The reply had been too morbid for them to take it seriously. No one killed children, it was a rule “And when you find out **I am** _a monster_ and you killed an innocent child based on a rumour, which one of you will deliver my dust to my crying mother?” It had to be something more to it.

“I will” He answered promptly, no hesitation, but… grief maybe? They couldn’t tell, they had to turn and look at their faces, but the axes would cut their cheeks if they as much as trembled.

“Smells like anger and…” Screw it. They turned to face them, the sting in their checks and neck was worth the surprise on their faces “tea?”

“So which one of you will have the honour of harvesting my EXP?” They seemed more shocked than angry, if they were facing the wrong side they would have missed the hesitation on their simultaneous growl.

“Don’t test us” He threatened.

“You won’t be sure until you kill me right? Why the change on demeanour? Weren’t you ready to put a **child’s** dust in a jar?” He hesitated.

Why?

He turned slightly at her, looking for confirmation. Truly, she had been silent, interesting.

With her eyes fixated on her own axe, she said only two words “Didn’t dust”

Their death wasn’t instantaneous, there was not enough damage to their soul to break it.

But the wounds in their neck did the job quick enough.

The red blood painting the snow.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:52                              Timeline 32 end.

The blood… She was waiting to see if the blood would turn to dust. That was what happened with dismembered body parts! They turned to dust!

“They won’t kill a puppy”

They wouldn’t, but that information was useless unless the Dogi truly **believed** they were a puppy.

“Aren’t I” they asked themselves “Just a lost and slightly weird… puppy?”

If they could admit to themselves that they were not just ‘slightly’ weird, and commit to their full weirdness, then maybe… yea… maybe they were just a dumb puppy that believed every problem could be solved with pets.

“I am a weird puppy” they said out loud to the Dogi if front of them, ready to swing their axes.

“Smells like dirt and snow” He said, lowering his weapon and looking for her confirmation.

“Smells like mystery smell” She answered, unconvinced “Stay still” her axe went for their hand, they instinctively pulled back.

“Don’t move” he reprehended.

“Stay” she commanded.

The axe was sharp, just needed to touch one finger slightly to cut it, staining the axe with a few drops of fresh blood.

“Can I pet you?” They asked, ignoring the small wound, making grabby hands at her. To distract her of the test they were about to fail or to just satiate their needs of petting at least one dog? No one would ever know.

“Don’t touch my mate” But even now, it didn’t work.

Why did they bothered? It was clear this was not how they would win the encounter.

“But I haven’t pet a single dog! I want to pet…” But in life we don’t get what we want.

“Dogs can’t pet dogs” Dogamy was confused, and… maybe smiling a bit?

“Why?” Because she is going to realize the blood is not dusting nor turning to magic waste at any time by now.

“Because that’s how puppies get bitten” any time now.

“Why would you bit a puppy?” aaany time.

“Better me than her” he got closer and bit the air in front of them, they stepped back by instinct, but he seemed to be just showing off.

Ok, by now she should be…

Snickering…

She wasn’t looking at her axe, she was looking at Dogamy!

“Still want to pet a dog, puppy?” He taunted, and she seemed to be enraptured by the view.

“I do” they extended a hand to him, just to have him bite the air in front of their fingers again.

“You need glasses if you are missing bites” She said playfully. And who knew? Love **is** blinding…

“I’ll take their fingers off next time, you’ll see”

“You better, or I’ll doubt your aim”

“Hotdog, you know I would bit anyone for you”

They extended their hand to try and–/

“Dogamy” her voice changed, along with his posture “Eliminate” Her axe swung before his, but it was quick enough.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138742:27                              Timeline 33 end.

“I know what to do now” they said confidently, instead of going out there and doing it already “But I can’t do it alone”

… Said to no one in particular… Since they were sure Flowey would have intervened if he was around.

“I can’t be hit, if they see the blood they’ll know” they had to dodge all the physical attacks then “And we both know I’m terrible at dodging”

They were in fact terrible… they were never a fighter to begin with, much better at acting their way out of things.

“So I need you. I know you are out there, I remember you, and I **know** you remember me”

Their soul was called out to an encounter. But they didn’t mind.

“We made a promise, you and I, we would keep all of them safe on the surface. Help me achieve that once more…”

Both axes swung simultaneously. But they didn’t try to move.

As a last word left their lips, their feet moved by themselves.

The next 22 timelines were a blur. But they remembered a cocky smile on their face as the axes swung on them on the last second.
    
    
    Reset          Continue                                                  138749:59                              Timeline 55 end.

Still with a smile on their face, this time one of real joy, they ran to the Dogi.

“Hey!” They screamed at them, closing the distance before they could search for their scent “Did you know? Did you know?” They chanted as they ran in circles around the guards.

With the sudden approach, both of them attacked, but their axes didn’t seemed to reach the puppy running around and rolling on the ground excitedly. 

“Did you know that dogs can pet other dogs?” They asked with an innocent smile, there was only kindness on their intent as they reached their hand to Dogaressa, trying to pet her.

“Who are you?”

“Why are you?”

“I’m a weird puppy!”

The name coming out of their mouth was so familiar, they embraced it with all they had.

“I’ll give you pets!” they couldn’t contain the euphoria, dodging another swing by their feet, they jumped as high as they could, reaching and touching the back of Dogamy’s head.

“Don’t touch him!” Dogaressa charged immediately.

They stepped back and to the side, rolled down the axe and jumped up, in a motion as natural as if someone had trained it for the last half an hour. They didn’t even register what they were doing, too focused in talking.

“I can pet you too!” said to a growling guard “I’ll show you!”

“Beware of dog” They only heard him say it, but if they were more aware of their surroundings, they would have noticed he was not in a battle instance any longer, but standing confusedly while touching his nape.

They only had eyes to Dogaressa’s fluffy head, in her rage uncovered by her hood.

They went for it, jumping as high as their legs allowed them, extending their hand.

At the apparent attack, she ducked, but they managed to slide one hand on the top of her head.

Victory at last.

Both dogs have been pet.

What they didn’t realized, was that with her motion, she also managed to put her axe right where they were supposed to land.

A new movement. One they had never seen or trained for.

Milliseconds from hitting the blade, they retracted their legs, throwing their arms to one side and spinning their torso to the other in a circular motion.

The quick movement was enough to make them miss the blade, but threw them ankle first on the ground. They spun twice on the snow before stopping in a ungraceful fall.

“Ouch” they whimpered with a mouth full of snow “That wasn’t fun…”

“You are lucky to be alive” She murmured.

“Never sneak on the guard” He chastised.

“I didn’t sneak” they retorted, sitting on the snow “I screamed as loud as I could!” Facing them, their axes were lowered, the encounter ended.

“Weird action” He got closer, sniffing the air around them.

“Lucky puppy” She was touching her head in a mix of anger and concern.

“That’s me!” They smiled at the Dogi “I’m Weird Puppy” They couple looked at each other before facing them.

“Where are you from?”

“Who are you from?”

“From…” backstory, quick “That way” they pointed to the general direction of the Ruins “And from my mom!” Well, they wouldn’t be caught in a lie if they weren’t lying…

“Go back to your mom”

“There is a human running around”

“But I wanted to show you” they tried to stand, but the leg they fell on wasn’t helping much “That dogs can pet other dogs”

“No pets allowed”

“Too dangerous for petting”

“But…” they had just pet them… why weren’t they happy? “Pet pet…” they motioned twice to pet an invisible dog, much smaller than them. In turn looking like a dog giving paw.

“Guards don’t pet” She said simply, but from behind her Dogamy copied the hand motion, looking at his mate “Go home Weird Puppy”.

“We will find the human” He said dutifully.

“You can pet when we are on the surface”

“Can I?” She had said it herself “I’ll hold you to it” They could pet them all on the surface “I will pet the two of you once we are free!”

They looked at each other and smiled, softening for simple moment, before putting their ‘royal guard’ face and telling them to get out of there.

It was fine.

They pet two dogs today.

Their leg was weird, but it wasn’t hurting.

And they had just caught a glimpse of hope blooming on these monster’s eyes. 

Today was a good day.

*--------------------*

Today was the worst day.

‘Stop dying you idiot’ He wanted to scream!

But calling attention to himself was never a smart thing to do. Specially because he couldn’t reset anymore.

He just held himself on the fishing line, waiting for the moment the world would be turned back in time, and he would be teleported to a ‘quick swim’ on the icy lake.

He never realized how resets could be so disorientating.

His 5 minute shortcut through the river was turned into what? Half an hour? An Hour? Two? How should he know? Everything seemed to be slower on that damned freezing water.

He would make them pay for this!

But now he just wanted his head to stop spinning...

The minutes passed and it seemed like time would stay where it was. He climbed the fishing pole and let go of the log he was using as a boat. A horrible boat if he had a say on it, it turned upside down half of the time.

Once his roots were in the snow, he didn’t even complained they were cold, he was just glad they were firm in a single place after ducking on the water for so many times.

Burying himself on the ground, he went first to one of the few dimensional boxes still intact, this one he had hidden below Snowdin town, on the ‘Undersnow Tunnels’, the project had been abandoned after a cave in decades ago, only he could get to them now.

Emerging on the safe bunker he had created to himself, he took the glowing mushroom out of his inventory, placing it near the box and illuminating the buried tunnel.

He put a few exceeding items on the box, for later use, and picked up two bisicles.

He had paid Monster kid to buy it for him ages ago, since he couldn’t enter the shop himself. But he never got to eat them… Not since that argument…

Whatever!

There was one idiot out there who hadn’t brought enough food for their ~oh sooo well planned~ trip to Snowdin. And now were eating discarded condiments just to survive the day!

“Stupid” they made him like this “Stupid human that don’t know the first thing about how not to die!”

He could shout here, he was safe, no one would hear.

“Here is your food, you pathetic and weak and dumb human!” He wavered the bisicles in the air, hitting the mushroom in the process.

The puffing noise caught his attention, he pointed his vines at it aggressively.

“You better be grateful I got you food!”

The mushroom didn’t answer.

He huffed satisfied, putting the bisicles on his inventory and the mushroom on the box, he went to find the starving idiot on the Snowdin forest.

It wasn’t an apology. As a flower, he was incapable of feeling guilty.

He didn’t overreact. He was right punishing them for making fun of him.

The special edition bisicles were just food.

No further meaning behind them.

Besides…

Is not like he could eat the treats with anyone else now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flowey: Are you serious?! I told you to wait and hide until the Dogi got to their posts!  
Human: Sorry I wasn’t listening.  
Flowey: How!? Why!?  
Human: I’m easily distracted.  
Flowey: What did you have to distract yourself with? The snow? I was right in front of you!  
Human: I think I was distracted with... you? Your leaves or petals, I’m not sure…  
Flowey: Are all humans stupid like this? *Turns to Writer*  
Writer: *Furiously typing in a surge of sudden inspiration*  
Flowey: Whatever… The two of you deserve each other *Disappears underground*  
Human: So… do you write me like this on purpose, or this is how you actually see the world? *Puts a hand on Writer’s shoulder*  
Writer: Hm? Sorry, did you say something?  
Human: *Smiles* Just thank you for writing again.  
Writer: Oh, no problem, kid. If everything goes smoothly, we will have one more later this month.  
Human: Thank you! I’m looking forward to it!

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be a long road. So feel free to drop any comment, suggestion or grammar correction (as writing in english is quite the challenge).


End file.
